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THE  UBRARY  OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF 

NORTH  CAROLINA 

AT  CHAPEL  HILL 


ENDOWED  BY  THE 

DIALECTIC  AND  PHILANTHROPIC 

SOCIETIES 


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This  book  is  due  at  the  LOUIS  R.  WILSON  LIBRARY  on  the 
last  date  stamped  under  "Date  Due."  If  not  on  hold  it  may  be 
renewed  by  bringing  it  to  the  library. 

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The  Negro 

In  the  History  of  the  United 

States 


From  the  Beginning  of  English  Settlements 

in  America,   1607,  to  the 

Present  Time 


WITH    THE   CONSTITUTION    OF    THE 

UNITED    STATES 

and 

Illustrations 


BY 

H  .      M  .     TAR VE  R 

Graduatt  SiuJent  of  History,   University  of  Chitago 

Brenham,  7'exas 


1905 

The  State  Printing  Company 

austin,  texas 


Copyright     1905 

by 
H.    M.    Tarver. 


IN 

( 

o 


PREFArE. 

An  iii'trent  need  and  a  loud  and  serious  call  for 
i\  faithful  account  of  the  Negro  in  the  United 
States,  as  he  has  moved  and  had  his  being,  in  the 
midst  of  material  things,  as  a  bondman  and  as 
a  citizen,  are  the  aims  which  this  work  hopes  to 
answer.  It  is  also  felt  that  the  nature  of  such  a 
work  requires,  like  all  history,  a  logical  and  faithful 
setting  in  time,  place  and  environment,  natural  and 
artificial,  to  render  it  something  more  than  a 
myth  or  a  fable.  The  achievements  of  the  Negro, 
therefore,  and  the  influence,  silent  and  active, 
which  he  has  exerted  on  iVmerican  life  and  the 
influence  of  that  life  upon  him,  are  treated  as  a 
jiart  of  the  unit  of  American  progress  and  enlight- 
enment. 

The  seeming  disparagement  of  this  phase  and 
factor  in  Western  civilization  by  renowned  authors 
of  other  races,  has  not  eliminated  them,  but  has 
left  the  subject  in  its  virgin  purity  to  be  presented, 
in  works  of  this  kind,  by  members  of  the  race. 
This  book,  then,  is  the  logical  demand  of  the  hour 
and  is  dedicated  to  that  great  body  of  the  reading 
public,  the  infant  and  the  aged,  among  us,  so  long 
neglected  but  so  thoroughly  anxious  to  know  all 
sides  of  the  whole  truth. 

H.  M.  T. 


Discovery  of  America. 


CHAPTER  I. 


Columbus. 

The  brisk  overland  trade  that  grew  up,  as  a 
result  of  the  Crusades,  between  Europe  and  the 
countries  of  Southeastern  Asia,  was  stripped  of 
its  profits  early  by  the  fierce  Saracen  hordes  who 
plundered  and  slaughtered  the  caravans  returning 
with  their  treasures  of  gold,  carpets  and  the  fa- 
mous spices  from  India  and  Arabia.  "The  call 
everywhere  pressing  for  a  safer  and  less  burden- 
some route  to  the  East  was  answered  by  Chris- 
topher Columbus,  a  bold  Italian  navigator,  who 
announced  that  the  earth  was  round  and  that  by 
sailing  westward  he  would  reach  Asia.  With 
much  difficulty  Columbus  received  a  commission 
and  assistance  in  ships  and  men  at  the  hands  of 
Isabella  and  Ferdinand  of  Spain,  and  set  sail  in 
August,   1492,  on  his  perilous  Journey,  but  was 


32  HISTORY  OF  THE  NEGRO 

stopped  October  12,  1492,  by  land,  resembling 
Asia  in  the  kind  and  abundance  of  its  vegetation 
and  the  appearance  of  its  people,  but  which  proved 
to  be  the  continental  islands  of  America.  News 
of  this  voN'age  threw  all  Europe  into  a  frenzy  of 
excitement,  and  every  maritime  power  rushed  its 
navigators  in  pursuit  of  this  great  prize. 

England. 

John  Cahot. — A  voyage  was  planned  by  Henry 
VII  of  England,  and  John  Cabot  was  sent  out  to 
find  a  northwest  passage  to  India.  Cabot  discov- 
ered North  America  and  explored  the  Atlantic 
coast  as  far  south  as  Massachusetts  in  1497,  sev- 
eral months  before  Columbus  touched  the  main- 
land of  South  America. 

Native  Inhabitants. 

American  Indians. — The  first  Europeans  that 
came  to  this  continent  found  the  country  inhab- 
ited by  about  200,000  non-European  people,  in  a 
savage  state,  living  mainly  in  four  loosely  bound 
confederacies,  with  here  and  there  segregated  tribes 
scattered  over  the  intervening  territor}'.  These 
four  prominent  divisions  were,  (1)  the  Five  Na- 
tions in  the  valley  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  New  York 


IN   THE   UNITED  STATES.  33 

and  around  the  Great  Lakes;  (2)  the  Seminoles, 
Creeks,  Cherokees,  Chocktaws  and  Chickasaws,  in 
the  territory  of  the  present  Gulf  States  east  of 
the  Mississippi  Eiver;  (3)  the  Aztecs  of  Mexico, 
and  (4)  Pueblos  of  Colorado  and  the  North  Pa- 
cific coast.  These  people,  whom  Columbus  called 
Indians,  were  preceded  by  a  more  ancient  race, 
known  as  the  Mound  Builders,  from  the  curious 
mounds  left  by  them  in  the  upper  Mississippi 
valley.  The  Five  Nations,  reduced  by  disease  and 
wars,  were  scattered  to  the  Northwest,  while  the 
Pueblos  vanished  before  the  ever  spreading  fron- 
tier settlements.  The  second  and  third  divisions 
have  exhibited  greater  physical  and  mental  en- 
dowments, and  except  for  their  general  coalescence 
with  the  negro  people  by  the  second,  and  with 
the  Negroes  and  Spaniards  by  the  third  division, 
they  have  remained  distinct  till  the  present. 


E^xplorations. 


CHAPTER  II. 


The  Spanish. 

Spain  led  off  in  tlie  matter  of  explorations 
in  the  New  World  as  it  had  done  in  its  discovery. 
Following  the  route  traversed  by  Columbus,  De 
Leon  explored  Florida  in  1512,  Balboa  Central 
America  in  1513,  De  Narvaez  in  1528  and  De  Soto 
in  1541  explored  the  Gulf  States  and  the  Missis- 
sippi River,  and  La  Salle  Texas  in  1682. 

But  it  was  upon  the  explorations  of  the  com- 
pany brought  over  by  De  JSTarvaez  and  led  first 
by  De  A'aca  and  then  by  a  giant  genius,  the  Negro 
Estevanico,  in  1528-39,  who  was  perhaps  the  first 
Christian  priest  to  travel  and  t^^ach  in  America, 
that  Spain  based  her  best  claim  to  all  the  south- 
western part  of  North  America. 

ESTEVAXICO. 

The  leader  of  the  band  of  four  that  traversed 


36  HISTORY   OF  THE  NEGRO 

the  Gulf  States,  the  Rio  Grande  and  Pueblo 
country  as  far  as  California,  was  shown  by  the 
Spanish  archives  and  by  the  historian  Bancroft 
to  have  been  Estevanico,  a  Negro.  Estevanico  had 
visited  America  with  Columbus  on  his  last  voyage, 
and  was,  because  of  his  valuable  knowledge  of  the 
New  World  and  the  language  and  customs  of  the 
natives,  sought  out  to  accompany  this  expedition. 
Estevanico  not  only  proved  a  valuable  guide,  but 
the  fearless  leader  of  this  first  great  expedition 
to  the  interior.  It  was,  therefore,  upon  the  in- 
comparable courage,  endurance  and  Christian  lead- 
ership of  this  Negro  that  Spain's  claim  to  more 
than  half  of  North  America  rested ;  and  the  story 
of  how  Spain  failed  to  defend  with  the  sword  and 
in  the  world's  market  what  this  courageous  black 
won  for  her  among  hostile  savages,  over  sharp 
Teutonic  competition,  is  told  in  the  independence 
of  Mexico  and  the  expansion  of  the  United  States. 

May  it  yet  be  revealed  through  the  ages  that 
this  son  of  Darker  Africa  was  laboring  like  ten 
millions  of  his  brothers  today,  without  applause, 
for  the  righteous  aggrandizement,  ultimately,  of 
this  Union  and  his  Aztec  brother,  whose  blood  and 
destiny  are  so  inseparably  united  with  his  own. 

The  First  Permanent  Settlements  in  the  New 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  37 

World  were  made  by  the  Spanish  under  Menendez 
at  St.  Augustine,  Florida,,  in  1565,  and  by  Eispejo 
at  Santa  Fe,  New  Mexico,  in  1582. 

England  Sent  Out  Expeditions  to  continue  the 
search  for  the  northwest  passage  and  explore  the 
new  continent  under  Frobisher  and  Drake,  and 
made  unsuccessful  attempts  at  colonization,  under 
Gilbert  and  Raleigh,  on  the  coast  of  Virginia  and 
Carolina  in  1580-86. 

The  first  permanent  English  settlement  was 
made  at  Jamestown,  Virginia,  in  1607  by  the  Lon- 
don Company  under  Captain  Newport. 

France  planted  colonies  on  the  island  of  Nova 
Scotia  in  1505  under  DeMonts  and  at  Quebec  in 
1508  under  Champlain. 

Holland  claimed  the  territory  lying  in  the  valley 
of  the  Hudson  river,  on  the  explorations  of  Henry 
Hudson,  an  Englishman  in  the  employ  of  the 
Dutch  East  India  Company,  and  settled  at  New 
Amsterdam,  now  New^  York,  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Hudson  in  1613. 

To  Avoid  Complications  and  insure  reasonable 
justice  to  the  competing  nations  in  America,  an  in- 
ternational agreement  was  made,  declaring  that 
midway  between  the  settlements  made  on  the 
coast  by  two  nations  should  be  the  dividing  line, 


38  HISTORY   OF  THE  NEGRO 

and  tliat  a  nation  making  the  iirst  permanent  set- 
tlement at  the  mouth  of  any  river,  that  nation 
should  own  all  tlie  territory  drained  by  such  river 
and  its  tributaries. 


Unglish  Settlements 


CHAPTER  III. 


Virginia. 

The  transfer  of  Raleigh's  grant  in  the  New 
World,  the  southern  part  to  the  London  Company 
and  the  northern  to  the  Plymouth  Company,  was 
the  beginning  of  an  industrial  and  economic  pol- 
icy, which  alone  was  calculated  to  make  good  the 
English  claim  to  the  Atlantic  seaboard,  and  ulti- 
mately the  powerful  government  of  the  United 
States. 

The  London  Company  sent  out  about  500  cav- 
aliers under  Captain  Newport,  who  settled  James- 
town in  1607. 

Tiie  first  dozen  years  saw  only  misery  and  fail- 
ure in  the  colony.  Four  changes  in  the  charter 
served  only  to  convince  them  that  prosperity  could 
not  be  brought  about  by  legislation. 


40  history  of  the  negro 

Slavery. 

A  great  demand  in  Europe  for  tobacco,  a  native 
American  plant,  and  the  raising  of  cotton,  iirst 
in  Virginia  about  16 IT,  developed  a  labor  problem 
which  was  solved  only  by  the  introduction  of 
Xegi'o  slaves  in  1619.  In  this  year  a  Dutch  cap- 
tain brought  over  a  ship  load  of  Africans  and 
sold  them  as  slaves  to  the  colonists.  This  was 
by  no  means  an  accident^  as  both  Spain  and  Eng- 
land had  tried  Indian  slaves  in  the  mines  of  South 
America  and  on  their  plantation  colonies,  but  was 
the  result  of  industrial  and  economic  conditions, 
which  gave  and  will  continue  to  give  the  distin- 
guishing characteristic  to  the  greatness  of  Amer- 
ica. The  part  the  Xegro  played  in  this  greatness, 
whether  viewed  by  the  economist  as  a  mere  asset 
or  bv  the  sociologist  as  a  mute  environment,  is 
everywhere  visible  and  has  been  indispensable  at 
every  stage  of  American  life.  The  history  of  the 
first  dozen  years  is  summed  up  in  the  four  peaceful 
political  revolutions,  dependence  on  the  scanty  sup- 
ply of  the  impoverished  savages,  the  marriage  of 
John  Rolfe  to  Pocahontas,  and  the  Starving 
Times. 

With  the  Negro  Came  Prosperity  to  the  Colony. 
The  forests  were  cleared  and  vast  plantations  of 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  41 

corn,  tobacco  and  cotton  were  cultivated  by  the 
slaves,  and  the  foundation  of  the  Old  Dominion 
was  made  secure,  through  the  trade  in  these  prod- 
ucts of  Negro  labor,  with  Europe  and  the  New 
England  settlements. 

Special  Laws  were  made  for  the  government  of 
the  slaves,  the  purpose  of  which  was  to  keep  them 
in  utter.  igiHW?ance- arid"  docttitr.  The  question  of 
Negro  slavery,  viewed  from  all  sides  save  that  of 
justice  and  humanity,  was  too  large  and  too  im- 
portant to  fail  of  governmental  notice.  The  sys- 
tem, however,  did  not  reach  its  fullest  development 
till  about  the  beginning  of  the  Civil  war,  wdien 
it  was  to  be  broken  up. 

Free  Negroes. — Almost  from  the  first  there  were 
free  Negroes  in  Virginia,  who  were,  by  law,  denied 
the  privileges  of  schooling  and  of  worship  in  the 
churches,  and  whose  lot  was  otherwise  rendered 
almost  as  hard  as  that  of  the  slaves.  Before  the 
age  of  great  cotton  plantations  in  the  South,  the 
price  of  slaves  was  so  low  that  many  industrious 
Negroes  made  money  enough,  at  odd  times,  plying 
some  ingenious  handicraft  learned  in  their  native 
African  heaths,  to  buy  themselves  and  families. 
Others  were  often  liberated  for  performing  some 
verv  meritorious  service  for  their  owners  or  the 


42  HISTORY  OF  THE   NEGRO 

]niblic.  Out  of  these  gloomy  conditions.  howeytT, 
came  some  exceptional  artisans  and  scholars  and 
many  sublime  characters. 

Tom  Fuller,  a  Virginia  slave,  exhibited  exceed- 
ing genius  and  erudition  in  the  science  of  mathe- 
matics, and  was  widely  known  as  the  Virginia 
calculator.  A  notice  of  the  death  of  Fuller,  pub- 
lished at  the  time  in  the  newspaper  of  the  colony, 
is  appended. 

"Died. — Tom,  the  famous  African  calculator, 
aged  80  years.  He  was  brought  to  this  country 
at  the  age  of  14,  with  many  of  his  unfortunate 
countrymen  and  sold  to  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Cox  of 
Alexandria,  whose  property  he  now  is.  This  man 
wjis  a  prodig}';  he  had  perfectly  acquired  the  use 
of  enumeration.  He  would  give  the  number  of 
poles,  yards,  feet,  inches  and  barleycorns  in  a 
given  distance — say  the  diameter  of  the  earth's 
orbit,  and  in  every  calculation  he  would  produce 
the  true  answer  in  less  time  than  it  would  take 
ninety-nine  out  of  a  hundred  men  with  their  pens. 
And  what  was  perhaps  more  extraordinary,  though 
interrupted  in  the  progress  of  his  calculations  and 
engaged  in  discourse  upon  any  subject,  his  oi>era- 
tions  were  not  thereby  in  the  least  deranged. 
Thus  died  Xegro  Tom,  this  untaught  arithmeti- 


IN   THE  UNI'l'ED  STATES.  43 

eian,  this  iintutorod  scholar.  Had  liis  opportu- 
nities of  iinproveinont  been  equal  to  those  of  thous- 
ands of  his  fellowmen,  neither  the  Eoyal  Society 
of  London,  the  Academy  of  Science  at  Paris,  nor 
even  a  Newton  himself  need  have  been  ashamed 
to  acknowledge  him  a  brother  in  science." — (John- 
son.) 

Indian  mavssacres  in  1632  and  1644  and  Bacon's 
rebellion  in  1676,  during  w^hich  Jamestown  was 
desti-oyed,  were  some  of  the  later  troubles  that 
worked  great  hardships  on  the  colony. 


Slavery,  General, 


CHAPTER  IV. 


Massachusetts. 

Massachusetts  was  settled  at  Plymouth  hy  Pii- 
rikn  separatists  from  the  established  Church  of 
England  in  1520.  Other  non-separatist  Puritans 
settled  the  Bay  Colony  in  1528.  Almost  no  prog- 
ress was  made  in  these  colonies  during  the  first 
half  a  century,  on  account  of  religious  troubles, 
the  Famine  of  1623,  King  Philip's  War,  charter 
troubles  with  England  and  the  Salem  Witchcraft. 

Slavery  Was  Introduced  into  Massachusetts  at 
an  early  date,  1630,  but  never  proved  ver}^  profita- 
})1e  in  any  of  the  New  England  colonies.  The 
system  differed  somewhat  in  the  nature  of  the 
treatment  of  slaves  from  the  practices  that  pre- 
vailed in  the  agricultural  colonies  at  the  south. 

Negroes  in  Colonial  Army. 
At  the  beginning  Negroes  were  enlisted  in  the 


46  HISTORY   OF  THE  NKGRO 

c-olonial  militia  and  were  given  religious  training. 
On  account  of  the  constantly  threatening  attitude 
and  occasional  outbreaks  of  neighboring  Indian 
tribes,  notably  King  Philip's  War  and  the  Pequod 
War,  and  because  of  a  strong  religious  zeal,  the 
churches  and  newspapers  advocated  a  more  hu- 
mane treatment  lest  the  Xegroes  should  be  driven 
to  join  the  enemy,  either  the  Indians  or  the 
British. 

Partial  Emaxc  ipation. 

Many  Slaves  "Were  Set  Free  and  others  won 
their  freedom  in  the  colonial  courts.  The  royal 
governors  violently  opposed  this  system  of  gradual 
emancipation,  and  vetoed  laws  passed  by  the  colo- 
nial legislatures  setting  free  and  giving  public 
lands  to  Xegroes  who  gained  prominence  by  mer- 
itorious acts  in  defense;  of  the  colonies  during  the 
border  troubles. 

Many  famous  scholai*s  appeared  among  the 
slaves  as  well  as  among  the  free  NegToes  of  Xew 
England. 

Phillis  Wheatley. 

Phillis,  a  slight  girl  of  12  years,  was  brought 
from  x\frica  and  sold  at  public  auction  in  Boston 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


47 


in  1761  to  a  Mrs.  Wheatley,  who  placed  the  girl 
in  better  surroundings  and  taught  her  to  read. 
Phi  11  is  mastered  the  English  and  Latin  languages 
in   an   astonishingly  short  time   and    contributed 


Phi  His  Wheat  ley. 


many  widely  read  and  universally  admired  articles 
to  the  papers  and  magazines,  both  of  America 
and  England.  But  it  was  her  poetic  genius  that 
astonished  and  delighted  the  reading  world  most 


4S  HISTORY  OF  THE  NEGKO 

on  two  continents.  Slie  was  sot  free  at  tlie  age 
of  20  and  traveled  extensively  in  Europe,  where 
she  was  received  by  the  royalty  and  renowned 
scholars  with  the  greatest  cordiality. 

She  returned  to  America  in  1779  and  died  five 
years  later.  Her  life  was  a  model  of  ui)rightness 
and  her  transcendent  Christian  virtues  won  for 
her  universal  respect  and  admiration.  One  of 
her  poems  sent  to  George  Washington  brought 
the  following  reply  in  a  letter  the  great  general 
wrote  to  hei- : 

"Cambridge.  Feb.  1776. 
'\Miss  Phillis :— Your  favor  of  October  26th 
did  not  reach  my  hands  till  the  middle  of  De- 
cember. *  *  *  I  thank  you  most  sincerely 
for  your  polite  mention  of  me  in  the  elegant  poem 
you  enclose ;  and  however  undeserving  I  may  be 
of  such  encomiums  and  panegyric,  the  style  and 
manner  exhibit  a  striking  proof  of  your  poetic 
talents,  in  honor  of  which  and  as  a  tribute  justly 
due  you.  I  would  have  published  the  poem,  had  I 
not  been  apprehensive  that  while  I  only  meant  to 
giAe  the  world  this  new  instance  of  your  genius, 
1  might  have  incurred  the  imputation  of  vanity. 
This  and  nothing  else  determined  me  not  to  give 
it  place  in  the  public  print.     Tf  you  should  ever 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  49 

coiiie  to  Cambridge  or  near  headquarters,  J  shall 
be  happy  to  see  a  person  so  favored  by  the  Muses, 
and  to  whom  nature  has  been  so  liberal  and  benefi- 
cent in  its  dispensation. 
"I  am  with  great  respect, 

"Your    humble    servant, 

"George  Washington.^' 


Slavery  in  Middle  Colonies 


CHAPTER  V. 


T^Tew  York,  New  Jersey  and  Delaware. 

Xew  JSTetherland  was  settled  by  the  Ehit^li  in 
1()13  and  was  the  headquarters  of  the  slave  trade 
in  the  colonies.  The  bold  and  unbearable  cruelty 
with  which  the  slaves  were  treated  by  the  Dutch 
traders  and  settlers  drove  them  to  an  open  revolt, 
during  which  the  notorious  slave  pen  with  a  large 
part  of  the  city  was  burned  in  1712. 

Milder  laws  affecting  the  slaves  were  soon  after 
made,  permitting  free  Negroes,  possessing  two 
hundred  dollars  worth  of  real  property  or  paying 
rent  on  that  amount,  to  vote. 

Many  wealthy  and  religious  persons  liberated 
their  slaves  in  consonance  with  the  growing  liberal 
sentiments  diffused  by  immigrants  to  the  colony, 
after  it  passed  from  Dutch  to  English  control. 


53  histoky  of  the  skguo 

Maryland. 

Maryland  Was  Settled  in  163Jf. — Ix)rd  Balti- 
more established  a  plantation  colony  on  the  Poto- 
mac Kiver  as  a  refuge  for  CatholictJ  pesecuted 
under  tlie  Protestant  regime  in  England.  The 
condition  of  the  slaves  in  Maryland  was  much 
the  same  as  it  was  in  other  Southern  colonies. 
The  presence  of  numerous  white  slaves,  however, 
whose  term  of  service  was  limited,  infused  an  ele- 
ment into  it  which  rendered  the  system  of  Negro 
slavery  exceedingly  complex,  so  much  so  that  laws 
were  passed  by  Maryland  as  a  colony  and  many 
more  as  a  State,  to  prevent  inter-marriage  between 
white  and  Negro  slaves,  and  others  fixing  the 
status  of  children  born  of  such  marriages  in  case 
it  should  continue.  The  following  are  two  of  the 
inter-marriage  laws : 

'^'A  Law. — Be  it  known  that  any  white  female 
slave  who  shall  marry  a  Negro  slave  shall  have 
her  period  of  servitude  doubled  and  such  Negro 
slave  shall  be  stricken  with  thirty-nine  stripes. 

Another — 

"A  Law. — Be  it  known  that  children  born  of 
such  Negro  slaves  and  a  white  female  person, 
should  her   period   of   servitude  be   out,  shall  go 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  53 

to  the  master  of  such  Negro  slave  and  continue 
in  slaven^  for  their  natural  lives." 

Of  one  of  these  unions  came  the  father  of  Ben- 
jamin Banneka,  but  the  period  of  servitude  of  the 
white  slave,  Molly  Welsh  by  name,  had  expired 
and  she  succeeded  in  buying  the  Negro  Banneka 
and  married  him  according  to  prevailing  laws. 

Benjamin  Banneka. 


This  Famous  Astronomer  and  Mathematician 

was  free  born  though  of  slave  parentage,  in  Mary- 
land in  1?39.  Benjamin  had  the  advantages  of  an 
early  education  in  the  existing  system  of  schools, 
along  with  the  children  of  other  races.  His  com- 
mon school  education  completed,  Banneka  was 
given  the  privilege  of  using  the  laboratory  and 
astronomical  instruments  of  a  wealthy  neighbor 
of  a  scientific  turn  of  mind,  and  soon  became 
known  throughout  America  and  England  as  a 
great  astronomer  and  mathematician.  His  work 
showed  him  to  be  eminently  worthy  of  this  re- 
nown. He  constructed  the  first  clock  made  on 
the  continent,  and  published  the  first  almanac 
based  on  astronomical  science,  in  America.  Poor 
Richard's  Almanac,  published  by  Benjamin  Frank- 
lin, was  a  periodical  newspaper  and  laid  no  pre- 


54  IIISTOUY   OF  THE  NEGRO 

t€ntions  to  being  an  almanac  based  on  celestial 
science  and  phenomena  at  all. 

Banneka  was  an  able  and  tireless  champion 
of  tlie  cause  of  his  people  in  America,  arguing 
in  public  addresses  and  by  correspondence  the 
fitness  of  the  Negro  for  freedom  and  citizenship. 
An  answer  to  one  of  these  letters  by  Thomas  Jef- 
ferson follows: 

Mr.  Jefferson^s  Letter. 

'•Mr.  Benjamin  Banneka, 

Near  EUicott's  Lower  Mills,  Baltimore  County: 
"Dear  Sir: — I  thank  you  sincerely  for  your 
letter  of  the  19th  instant,  and  for  the  almanac 
it  contained.  Nobody  wishes  more  than  I  do  to 
see  such  proof  as  you  exhibit  that  nature  has 
given  to  our  black  brother  talents  equal  to  those 
of  other  colors  of  men,  and  that  the  appearance 
of  a  want  of  them  is  owing  to  the  degraded  con- 
dition of  their  existence  both  in  Africa  and  Amer- 
ica. I  can  add  with  truth  that  no  one  wishes  more 
ardently  than  I  do  to  see  a  good  system  com- 
menced for  raising  the  condition  both  of  their 
body  and  mind  to  what  it  ought  to  be  as  fast  as 
the  imbecility  of  their  present  existence  and  other 
circumstances   which   can   not  be   neglected   will 


IX  THi:  UNITED  STATES.  55 

admit.  I  have  taken  the  liberty  of  sending  your 
almanac  to  the  secretary  of  the  Academy  of 
Science  at  Paris,  because  I  consider  it  a  document 
to  which  your  whole  color  had  a  right  for  their 
justification  against  the  doubts  which  have  been 
entertained  of  them. 

^'I  am  with  great  esteem,  Sir, 

"Your   obedient   servant, 

^^Thomas  Jefferson.'^ 

Thos.  Jefferson  was  perhaps  the  boldest  and 
most  effective  opponent  of  slavery  to  be  found 
among  the  great  men  of  the  South,  and  in  his  draft 
of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  he  charged 
that  the  British  crown  had  all  along  supported  the 
institution  of  slavery. 

Mr.  Jefferson's  charge  on  this  point  follows: 
"Determined  to  keep  open  a  market  where  men 
should  be  bought  and  sold,  he  has  prostituted  his 
negative  for  suppressing  every  legislative  attempt 
to  prohibit  or  to  restrain  this  execrable  commerce, 
and  that  this  assemblage  of  horrors  might  want  no 
fact  of  distinguished  die,  he  is  now  exciting  those 
very  people  to  rise  in  arms  among  us,  and  purchase 
that  liberty  of  which  he  has  deprived  them,  by 
murdering  the  people  on  whom  he  has  obtruded 


56  HISTORY  OF  THE  NEGRO 

them ;  thus  paying  off  former  crimes  committed 
against  the  liberties  of  one  people  with  crimes 
which  he  urges  them  to  commit  against  the  lives 
of  another." 

Slavery  was  introduced  into  America,  as  a  sys- 
tem, by  a  royal  permission  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  and 
after  the  destruction  of  the  Spanish  Armada  and 
England  had  gained  the  mastery  of  the  sea,  both 
the  government  and  private  shipping  equipments 
of  the  empire  engaged  in  the  slave  traffic. 

Associated  with  Banneka  in  his  plea  and  labors 
for  better  treatment  of  his  people  was  the  slave 
^•^"-  woman    Frances   Watkins,   widely   known   as   the 

^v-*'  first  great  Southern  writer  of  poetry  of  a  high 

literary  character.  Her  poems,  though  rare,  are 
still  read  by  a  large  circle  and  show  the  genuine 
poetic  art  and  literary  finish.  A  sample  of  her 
work  on  her  favorite  theme,  though  not  her  master- 
piece, when  criticised  from  the  poet  and  scholar's 
point  of  view,  follows: 

Like  a  fawn  from  the  arrow,  startled  and  wild, 
A  woman  swept  by  me  bearing  a  child ; 
In  her  eye  was  the  night  of  a  settled  despair, 
And  her  brow  was  overshadowed  with  anguish  and 
care. 


^^^ 


IX  THE   UNITED  STATES.  57 

She  was  nearing  the  river-on  reaching  the  brink 
She  heeded  no  danger,  she  paused  not  to  think ! 
For  she  is  a  mother— her  child  is  a  slave— 
And  she^ll  give  him  his  freedom  or  find   him   a 
grave ! 

But   she-s   free-yes,   free  from   the   land    v.here 
the  slave 

From   the  hand  of  oppression  must   rest  in   the 
grave; 

Where  bondage  and  torture,  where  scourges  and 

chains. 
Have  placed  on  our  banner  indelible  stains. 

The  blood-hounds  have  missed  the  scent  of  her 
way; 

The  hunter  is  rifled  and  foiled  of  his  prey 
Fierce  jargon  and  cursing,  with  clanking  of  chains. 
Make  sounds  of  strange  discord  on  Liberty's  plains. 

With  the  rapture  of  love  and  fulness  of  bliss 
She  placed  on  his  brow  a  mother's  fond  k.Is- 
Oh!  poverty,  danger,  and  death  she  can  brave 
For  the  cluld  of  her  love  >s  no  longer  a  slave. 


Slavery  in  the  South, 


CHAPTER  VI. 


Southern  Colonies. 

The  system  of  slavery  established  in  the  South- 
ern colonies,  the  Carolinas  settled  by  a  body  of 
Engish  nobles  and  aristocrats  under  Lord  Claren- 
don at  Albemarle  in  1663  and  Georgia  by  Lord 
Baltimore  in  1732,  as  a  refuge  for  oppressed  debtor 
classes  in  England,  differed  in  many  essentials  from 
the  New  England  system.  On  account  of  the  un- 
profitableness of  slave  labor  and  the  Quaker  and 
Puritan  religious  sentiments,  slaves  were  emancipa- 
ted in  many  of  the  New  England  States  before  the 
Civil  War,  while  in  New  Hampshire,  though  au- 
thorized by  law,  the  people  refused  to  own  or  deal 
in  slaves.  The  slave  system  reached  its  highest  de- 
velopment in  the  South,  where  vast  plantations  of 
cotton,  tobacco,  sugar-cane  and  rice  were  cultivated 
by  slave  labor,  in  the  midst  of  which  grew  up  that 
distinct  type  of  American  life  known  as  the 
Southern  Aristocracy,  whose  ideas  of  government 
were  embodied  in  John  Locke's  Grand  Model  in 
South  Carolina. 

Many  Slaves  Were  Overworked  and  otherwise 
brutally  mistreated  by  individuals  blind  to  every- 


GO  HISTORY  OF  THE  NEGRO 

thing  but  i^ersonal  gain.  Ever}^  custom  and  law 
calculated  to  render  this  class  of  property  secure 
and  productive  of  greater  riches,  however  severe, 
found  support  among  this  class  of  owners.  These 
practices  debauched  both  master  and  slave  and  east 
an  undeserved  reproach  upon  the  entire  South, 
when  in  fact  the  great  body  of  Southern  owners 
treated  their  slaves  kindly  and  instructed  them 
in  truthfulness,  sobriety  and  the  other  Christian 
virtues. 

M'nwritj/  Opposition. — There  was  always  a  re- 
spectable minority  in  the  South  that  opposed 
slavery,  and  while  the  system  was  vast  and  in  many 
cases  severe,  it  was  for  the  most  part  as  humane 
as  could  likely  be. 

Florida,  Louisiana  and  Texas  were  so  different 
from  the  other  Southern  States  in  their  early  his- 
tory' and  in  the  nature  and  incidents  of  their  slave 
regimes  that  they  deserve  separate  mention. 

Florida.^ 

Florida  Was  the  First  of  the  Spanish  colonies 
in  Xorth  America  and  indeed  St.  Augustine,  Flor- 
ida, 1565,  was  the  first  permanent  European  set- 
tlement on  the  continent.  It  continued  in  the 
possession  of  Spain  till  1819,  when  it  was  ceded 
to  the  United  States,  in  a  purchase  of  the  Spanish 
claim  to  the  territory  west  of  the  Eocln'  mountains. 

The  Spanish  resorted  to  the  enslavement  of 
Indians  till  they  proved  unprofitable  and  imported 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  61 

Africans  to  work  the  mines  of  South  America 
and  in  the  plantation  colonies  even  before  the 
English  did.  But  the  practices  of  the  two  na- 
tions in  this  matter  were  vastly  different.  The 
Spanish,  themselves  mixed  wath  the  Latin  and 
Moorish  races  of  the  East,  had  less  aversion  to  a 
further  mixture  with  neighboring  people  than  did 
the  English.  In  Florida,  as  in  Mexico,  Cuba  and 
the  other  .colonies,  the  Castilians  inter-married 
freely  with  the  native  and  Negro  inhabitants, 
either  by  law^  or  the  prevailing  custom.  This 
practice  rendered  slavery  well  nigh  inoperative  in 
Florida  under  Spanish  rule  and  developed  a  mixed 
nationality,  known  as  mulattoes,  whose  legal  status 
became  that  of  their  fathers  and  not  their  moth- 
ers, as  was  the  case  in  English  colonies. 

The  mild  laws  and  milder  practices  in  Florida 
and  the  unfriendly  relations  between  the  Spanish 
and  English  colonies  drew  thousands  of  free  and 
slave  Xegroes  from  South  Carolina  and  Georgia 
into  this  territory. 

jSTegro  Government. 

Blount's  Fort  Government. — Hundreds  of  slaves 
escaping  from  the  neighboring  English  settlements 
into  the  Everglades  of  Florida,  fortified  Blount's 
Fort  and  established  an  independent  government 
in  those  almost  inaccessible  morasses  that  lasted 
for   forty   odd   years.     More   permanent,   indeed. 


62  HISTORY  OF  THE  NEGRO 

was  it  than  was  the  French  authority  in  Louisiana 
or  the  Dutch  in  Xew  Netherland. 

Many  thousands  more  joined  the  Seminole  and 
Creek  Indians,  with  whom  they  freely  inter-mar- 
ried, and  moved  westward  into  Florida,  Alabama, 
Mississippi  and  finally  into  the  present  Indian 
Territdry  and  Oklahoma.  If  the  Negro  does  not 
boast  of  the  abundant  infusion  of  English,  Span- 
ish and  French  blood,  he  may,  in  keeping  with 
the  First  Families  of  A^irginia,  those  of  all  the 
Gulf  States,  Arkansas  and  Oklahoma,  justly  boast 
of  the  blood  of  Osceola,  the  Seminoles  and  Creeks, 
a  better  endowed  and  more  lasting  people  than 
those  of  Pocahontas,  flowing  through  their  veins. 


The  French  Type, 


CHAPTER  VII. 


Louisiana. 

The  French  owned  the  territory  of  Louisiana, 
extending  from  the  Mississippi  northwestward  to 
the  Pacific  coast,  till  1803,  when  it  was  purchased 
by  the  United  States  for  $15,000,000. 

French  claims  to  this  territory  were  based  on 
the  explorations  of  La  Salle  in  1682,  who  crossed 
the  country  from  the  French  settlements  in  Can- 
ada and  sailed  down  the  Mississippi  to  its  mouth. 

Slavery,  if  such  it  may  be  called,  existed  in  the 
French  settlements  in  and  around  New  Orleans, 
from  its  establishment  in  1718.  It  was  rather 
the  rule  for  the  colonists  to  marry  among  the 
slaves,  and  such  marriages  were  readily  acknowl- 
edged by  the  Catholic  church,  which  was  ever 
loath  to  tolerate  slavery  in  any  form.  The  blacks 
were  received  into  the  churches  and  have  con- 
tinued to  worship  along  with  other  races  till  the 
present  time.  Many  prominent  mulattoes,  com- 
monly known  as  Creoles,  came  of  these  unions, 


64  IIISTOKY   OF  THE  NEGRO 

and  the  property  and  other  things  which  com- 
bined to  make  and  intrench  the  Frencli  nobility 
in  the  Soutliern  Louisiana  country,  went  to  the 
offsprings  of  these  unions,  and  there  continues 
to  exist  a  wealthy  and  aristocratic  element  of  Ne- 
groes in  the  larger  cities  of  Louisiana,  and  partic- 
ularly Xew  Orleans,  that  came  down  from  the 
old  French  regime. 

Alexandre  Dumas. 

Alexandre  Dumas,  famous  everywhere  inflected 
languages  are  spoken,  as  a  novel  and  play  writer, 
was  the  son  of  a  French  officer  and  a  Xegro 
mother,  born  1802.  Dumas'  "Monte  Christo''  and 
his  "Three  Musketeers"  have  been  read  perhaps 
more  than  any  books  except  the  Bible. 

M.  Dumas  left  Xew  Orleans  and  went  to  France, 
where  he  amassed  a  princely  fortune  by  his 
waitings. 


The  Spanish  Type. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


Texas. 


Texas  was  claimed  by  Spain  as  a  part  of  Mexico 
and  by  France  on  the  explorations  of  La  Salle  as 
a  part  of  Louisiana.  This  disputed  boundary 
question  was  transferred  to  the  United  States 
in  the  purchase  of  Louisiana  in  1803.  Though 
Texas  had  won  her  independence  horn.  Mexico  in 
1836,  Mexico  did  not  relinquish  her  claims  to 
Texas  or  agree  to  any  definite  boundary  till  the 
end  of  the  Mexican  war  in  1845. 

Mexico,  under  whose  authority  Texas  was  set- 
tled, forbade  the  bringing  in  or  holding  of  slaves 
within  the  territory  of  Texas.  Many  Negroes, 
however,  were  brought  in  under  the  pledge  to 
adopt  the  system  of  peonage  practiced  in  Mexico, 
but  the  development  of  the  type  of  servitude  pe- 
culiar to  the  system  prevailing  in  the  United 
States  caused  Mexico  to  pass  laws  declaring  all 
slaves  free  at  14  years  of  age  in  1828.  A  later 
enactment  proclaimed  freedom  to  all  Negroes  un- 
conditionally. At  the  breaking  out  of  the  Texas 
Revolution,  Mexico  offered  every  inducement  and 
assistance   to  the  slaves   to   escape   into   Mexico. 


66  HISTORY  OF  THE  NEGRO 

Many  Negroes  joined  the  Mexican  army  and  thus 
gained  their  freedom  at  no  great  cost  to  the  in- 
dependence of  Texas. 

Mexicans  in  Texas,  after  the  Revolution,  con- 
tinued to  live  and  marry  among  the  slaves,  and 
by  an  ingenious  system  of  underground  railway, 
contrived  to  assist  hundreds  of  Negroes  to  escape 
across  the  Rio  Grande. 

The  Planters  of  Texas  soon  suspected  the  Mex- 
ican teamsters  in  connection  with  this  wholesale 
exodus  of  slaves  to  Mexico,  and  many  minor  out- 
breaks occurred.  In  one  of  these,  known  as  the 
Cart  War,  trouble  of  a  sanguinary  nature  was  nar- 
rowly averted.  This  generous  admixture  of  Aztec 
and  Negro  blood  appears  to  have  enriched  both 
and  these  marital  and  social  relations  have  been 
fruitful  in  the  development  of  a  distinct  sociolog- 
ical element  in  the  whole  Texas  group. 

Texas  won  its  independence  from  Mexico  in 
1836  and  established  an  independent  republican 
government,  which  lasted  till  its  peaceful  annexa- 
tion to  the  United  States  in  1845. 

The  Inter-Colonial  Wars. — King  William's  war 
in  1689-97,  Queen  Anne's  war  in  1702-13,  and 
King  George's  war  1744-48,  were  but  echoes  of 
the  wars  between  England  and  France  at  home. 
The  French  and  Indian  war  in  1754-63  was  waged 
over  the  disputed  territory  west  of  the  Alleghany 
mountains.  England  was  victorious  and  gained 
the  disputed  territory  and  all  of  Canada. 


Revolutionary  War, 


CHAPTEE  IX. 


The  attention  which  the  French  and  Indian 
War  drew  to  the  American  colonies  showed  them 
to  be  more  prosperous  in  material  things,  more 
capable  in  war  and  far  more  alarmingly  imbued 
with  the  spirit  of  independence  and  nationality 
than  was  thought  possible  by  the  mother  country. 
Measures  of  repression  were  at  once  enacted  and 
those  already  existing  were  strengthened. 

King  and  parliament  vied  with  each  other  in 
checking  this  spirit  of  independence  and  in  turn- 
ing this  stream  of  wealth  toward  the  English 
treasury. 

The  Navigation  Act  already  passed,  the  aboli- 
tion of  charters,  the  Stamp  Act  and  the  taxing 
of  the  colonies  to  meet  the  expenses  of  the  recent 
wars,  were  resisted  everywhere  by  the  Americans. 

The  sending  over  of  British  soldiers  to  enforce 
obedience  to  these  laws  and  to  quiet  the  growing 
discontent  with  implements  of  war,  served  only 
to  fan  the  prevailing  disquiet  into  open  rebellion. 


r^^r'^L^     \ 


in  the  united  states.  69 

Crispus  Attucks, 

The  Boston  Massacre. — The  British  guard  sta- 
tioned at  Boston  very  early  became  unbearable 
in  their  insults  and  persecutions  of  the  people. 
On  such  an  occasion  in  1770,  the  Negro  giant 
Crispus  Attucks,  in  keeping  with  the  spirit  that 
prevailed  in  the  colonies,  called  a  few  of  his  white 
neighbors  together  and  led  them  against  the  Brit- 
ish soldiers,  beating  them  back  with  clubs  till  the 
guard  was  ordered  to  charge;  at  the  first  fire  At- 
tucks, the  immortal  black,  alone  fell  and  another 
volley  brought  two  of  his  white  comrades  to  his 
side.  Thus  the  first  blow  of  the  Revolutionary 
War  in  defense  of  x\merican  independence  was 
struck  and  the  first  blood  was  shed  by  the  black 
patriot,  leader  and  martyr,  Crispus  Attucks.  The 
whole  country  was  aroused  and  threats  of  summary 
violence  to  the  guard  and  treasonable  utterances 
against  the  parliament  and  the  king  were  heard 
throughout  the  country. 

The  Historian  Goodrich  Says :  ^The  guard  now 
marched  out  with  guns  loaded.  They  met  a 
great  crowd  of  people,  led  on  by  the  giant  Negro, 
Attucks.  At  last  Attucks  with  twelve  of  his  fol- 
lowers began  to  strike  upon  their  muskets  with 
clubs,  and  to  cr}^  out  to  the  crowd,  '^Don't  be 
afraid — tliey  dare  not  fire — the  miserable  cowards 
— kill  the  rascals — crush  them  under  foot!'  At- 
tucks now  lifted  his  hands  against  the  captain  of 
the  guard  and  seized  hold  of  his  bavonet.     At 


70  HISTORY  OF  THE  NEGRO 

this  instant  the  firing  began.  Attucks  dropped 
dead  immediately.  The  soldiers  fired  twice  more 
and  two  others  were  killed.  On  the  8th  of  March 
the  three  slain  citizens  were  buried.  The  shops 
were  all  closed  during  the  ceremony,  and  the 
bells  in  Boston  and  the  adjoining  towns  were  all 
the  while  tolling." 

Attucks  took  no  part  in  the  singing  we  hear 
all  the  while,  "Give  me  liberty  or  give  me  death," 
but  was  the  first  American  to  defy  and  hurl  back 
the  enemy  and  invaders  of  his  country — the  first 
to  choose  liberty  and  death — the  first  martyr  to 
his  country's  cause. 

A  National  Sin. 

For  a  constitution,  framed  by  the  same  genera- 
tion of  patriots,  to  sanction  the  enslavement  of  a 
race  to  which  the  first  leader  and  martyr  to  its 
independence  belonged,  is  one  of  the  prodigies  of 
history — was  the  scarlet  crime  of  the  age.  Out 
of  this  war,  in  which  he  performed  the  patriot's 
role  so  nobl}^  were  to  come  questions,  when  settled 
right,  that  meant  the  freedom  and  enfranchise- 
ment of  his  race,  in  the  land  so  abundantly  en- 
riched by  their  blood  and  brawn.  The  promises 
of  freedom,  made  by  the  eager  witnesses  to  this 
courage  and  heroic  martyrdom  on  Boston  Com- 
mon, suffered  postponement  and  delay  in  the 
constitutional  convention  for  three-quarters  of  a 
century,  but  not  defeat.     Attucks  and  his  people 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  71 

were  so  much  a  part  of  the  warp  and  woof  of 
that  sentiment  which  developed  into  American 
independence  and  nationality,  without  which  pat- 
triotism  is  anarchy,  that  the  promises  made  then 
and  fulfilled  in  1860  to  1865,  with  all  the  inter- 
vening consequences,  were  inevitable  results,  as 
just,  natural  and  logical  as  were  the  cause  and  re- 
sults of  the  Revolution  itself. 

All  nations  combined  to  erect  a  monument  of 
marble  to  his  memory,  his  people  were  liberated 
and  enfranchised,  and  yet  the  full  measure  of 
those  promises,  under  God,  in  the  nature  of  the 
causes  that  inspired  them,  have  not  been  meted 
out. 

Inventions. 

The  inventions  of  the  cotton  gin  by  a  Maryland 
Negro  and  the  transmitter  used  in  the  Bell  tele- 
phone by  Granville  Woods  show  how  the  Negro 
has  contributed  to  the  wealth  and  convenience 
of  the  world  in  time  of  peace. 


Freemen  and  Slaves  in  One 
Cause. 


CHAPTER   X. 


The  War  Begins. 

The  war  of  the  Eevolution  now  opens  in  all 
its  fury.  The  country  impoverished  by  the 
French  and  Indian  war  was  unorganized  and  with- 
out an  anny,  but  the  spirit  of  Attucks  was  abroad 
in  the  land.  American  reverses  on  Long  Island, 
at  Monmouth,  Camden  and  the  agonies  of  Valley 
Forge  were  abundantly  counteracted  by  the  victo- 
ries at  Trenton,  Saratoga,  on  the  sea  and  the  sur- 
render of  the  British  at  Yorktown  in  1781. 

CoLOxiAL  Army. 

N^igro  Soldiers. — More  than  G0,000  Negroes  en- 
listed and  served  in  the  ranks  during  the  Revolu- 
tionar}'  war.  About  8000  in  the  North  joined 
the  American  army,  and  over  50,000  served  with 
the  British  under  the  promise  of  freedom  in  the 
Southern  and  Middle  colonies.  This  first  move- 
ment toward  honorable  enlistment  of  slaves  by  the 


IN  TJIE  UNITED  STATES.  73 

British  and  the  promise  of  emancipation  had  the 
elTeet  of  securing  their  sympathy  and  support 
throughout  the  South.  The  Northern  colonies 
had  not  neglected  the  opportunity  of  enlisting 
both  free  and  slave  Negroes  in  that  section  from 
the  first,  and  as  the  war  was  waged  for  the  first 
few  years  exclusively  at  the  North,  the  idea  of 
utilizing  the  great  body  of  slaves  in  the  South 
seems  not  to  have  occurred  to  them.  Two  things 
served  to  prevent  enlistment  of  Southern  Negroes : 
First,  the  great  Tory  element  in  all  the  Southern 
colonies  that  not  only  would  not  allow  their  slaves 
to  join  the  colonial  army,  but  themselves  joined 
the  British  and  encouraged  the  slaves  of  Revolu- 
tionary sympathizers  to  accept  the  British  terms 
of  enlistment.  The  other  was  the  British  offer 
of  freedom  to  slaves. 

An  attempt  to  defeat  the  logical  results  of  this 
offer  of  freedom  and  pare  the  plan  of  enlistment 
of  Negroes  by  the  British,  is  shown  by  a  letter 
from  Alexander  Hamilton  to  John  Jay,  then  pres- 
ident of  the  Continental  Congress,  on  the  sub- 
ject : 

"New  York,  March,  1779. 

"To  John  Jay: 

"Dear  Sir: — Col.  Laurens,  who  will  have  the 
honor  of  delivering  you  this  letter,  is  on  his  way 
to  South  Carolina  on  a  project  which  I  think,  in 
the  present  situation  of  affairs  there,  is  very  good 
and  deserves  every  kind  of  support  and  encourage- 


74  HISTORY  OF  THE  NEGRO 

ment.  This  is,  to  raise  two  or  three  or  four  bat- 
talions of  Negroes,  with  the  assistance  of  the  gov- 
ernment of  that  State,  by  contributions  from  the 
owners  in  proportion  to  the  numbers  they  possess. 
If  you  think  proper  to  enter  upon  the  subject  with 
him,  he  will  give  you  a  detail  of  his  plan.  He 
wishes  to  have  it  recommended  by  Congress  and 
the  State,  and,  as  an  inducement,  they  should 
engage  to  take  those  battalions  into  Continental 
pay.  It  appears  to  me  that  an  experiment  of 
this  kind,  in  the  present  state  of  Southern  affairs, 
is  the  most  rational  that  can  be  adopted,  and 
promises  very  important  advantages.  Indeed,  I 
hardly  see  how  a  sufficient  force  can  be  collected 
in  that  quarter  without  it,  and  the  enemy's  oper- 
ations are  growing  infinitely  more  serious  and  for- 
midable. I  have  not  the  least  doubt  that  the 
Negroes  will  make  very  excellent  soldiers  with 
proper  management,  and  I  will  venture  to  pro- 
nounce that  they  can  not  be  put  in  better  hands 
than  those  of  Mr.  Laurens.  He  has  the  zeal,  in- 
telligence, enterprise  and  every  other  qualification 
necessary  to  succeed  in  such  an  undertaking. 

"It  is  a  maxim  with  some  great  military  judges 
that,  Vith  sensible  officers,  soldiers  can  not  be  too 
stupid,'  and,  on  this  principle  it  is  argued  that  the 
Eussians  would  make  the  best  troops  in  the  world 
if  they  were  under  other  officers  than  their  own. 
I  mention  this,  because  I  hear  it  frequently  ob- 
jected to  the  scheme  of  embodying  Negroes,  that 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  75 

they  are  too  stupid  to  make  soldiers.  This  is  so 
far  from  appearing,  to  me,  a  valid  objection  that 
I  think  their  want  of  cultivation  (for  their  nat- 
ural faculties  are  probably  as  good  as  ours),  joined 
to  that  habit  of  subordination  from  a  life  of  serv- 
itude, will  make  them  sooner  become  soldiers  than 
our  white  inhabitants.  Let  officers  be  men  of 
sense  and  sentiment,  and  the  nearer  the  soldier 
approaches  to  machines  perhaps  the  better.  I 
foresee  that  this  project  will  have  to  combat  much 
opposition  from  prejudice  and  self-interest.  The 
contempt  we  have  been  taught  to  entertain  for 
the  blacks  makes  us  fancy  many  things  that  are 
founded  neither  in  reason  nor  experience,  and  an 
unwillingness  to  part  with  property  of  so  valuable 
a  kind  will  furnish  a  thousand  arguments  to  show 
the  impracticability  or  pernicious  tendency  of  a 
scheme  which  requires  such  a  sacrifice.  But  it 
should  be  considered  that  if  we  do  not  make  use 
of  them  in  this  way  the  enemy  probably  will,  and 
that  the  best  way  to  counteract  the  temptation  they 
hold  out  will  be  to  offer  them  ourselves.  An  es- 
sential part  of  the  plan  is  to  give  them  their  free- 
dom with  their  muskets.  This  will  secure  their 
fidelity,  animate  their  courage,  and  I  believe  will 
have  a  good  influence  upon  those  who  remain  by 
opening  a  door  to  their  emancipation.  This  cir- 
cumstance, I  confess,  has  no  small  weight  in  in- 
ducing me  to  wish  the  success  of  the  project,  for 
the  dictates  of  humanity  and  true  policy  equally 


76  HISTORY  OF  THE  NEGRO 

interest  me  in  favor  of  this  unfortunate  class  of 
men. 

*'Witb  the  truest  res])eet  and  esteem,  I  am,  sir, 
-'Yonr  most  obedient  servant, 

(Johnson)  "Alexander  Hamilton/' 

The  Tory  element  in  the  States  of  South  Caro- 
lina and  Georgia  was  so  strong  and  property  in 
slaves  was  so  valuable  that  Col.  Laurens  failed 
utterly  in  his  plan.  British  governors  in  these 
colonies  had  already  issued  orders  granting  free- 
dom to  all  such  slaves  as  would  join  the  roya] 
army.  In  Georgia  and  South  Carolina  more  than 
35,000  joined  the  British  under  that  system. 

A  letter  from  George  Washington  to  the  Amer- 
ican. Col.  Laurens,  on  the  condition  so  familiar 
to  him  in  that  section,  is  given: 

Washington's  Letter. 

"I  must  confess  I  am  not  at  all  astonished  at 
the  failure  of  your  plans.  Tliat  spirit  of  freedom 
which  at  the  commencement  of  this  contest  would 
have  gladly  sacrificed  everything  to  the  attain- 
ment of  its  object  has  long  since  subsided  and 
every  selfish  passion  has  taken  its  place.  It  is 
not  the  public  but  private  interest  which  influ- 
ences the  generality  of  mankind,  nor  can  Ameri- 
cans any  longer  boast  an  exception.  Under  these 
circumstances  it  would  rather  have  been  surprising 
if  you  had  succeeded,  nor  will  you.  I  fear,  have 
better  success  in  Georgia.*^ 


Black  Heroes, 


CHAPTER  XI. 


Tpie  Black   Scout. 

CalehJBarhow\:^-OjiQ  of  the  most  daring  feats 
ofTlie  Eevolution  was  performed  by  Caleb  Bar- 
bour, a  free  Negro  of  iSTew  York.  Barbour  served 
through  the  entire  campaign  at  the  North  and 
contributed  more  to  the  ultimate  defeat  of  the 
British  in  that  section  than  any  other  one  man. 

The  British  were  stationed  on  the  almost  in- 
accessible heights  of  Stony  Point,  the  key  to  the 
British  supplies  in  Canada  by  way  of  the  old 
French  and  Indian  route.  General  Anthony 
Wayne,  who  was  sent  against  that  fort,  was  about 
to  give  up  in  despair,  when  the  Negro  Caleb  Bar- 
bour, the  famous  Revolutionary  Scout,  returned 
to  camp  in  possession  of  the  British  countersign 
and  led  the  Americans  up  the  perilous  way,  in 
the  dead  of  night,  on  within  the  enemy's  lines 
and  to  victory.  One  of  the  bloodiest  encounters  of 
the  war  ensued,  in  which  the  British  received  a 
crushing  defeat,  a  defeat  which  rendered  General 
Gates'  victory  at  Saratoga  sure  and  complete. 


78  HISTORY  OF  THE  NEGRO 

Of  This  Battle  the  Historian  Barnes  Says: 
"The  capture  of  Stony  Point  was  one  of  the  most 
brilliant  exploits  of  the  war.  The  countersign, 
which  curiously  enough  was,  ^The  fort  is  ours,^  was 
obtained  by  a  Negro.  He  guided  the  troops  in  the 
darkness  to  the  causeway  leading  over  the  flooded 
marshes  around  the  foot  of  the  hill  on  which  the 
fort  was  situated.  The  unsuspicious  sentinel,  hav- 
ing received  the  countersign,  was  chatting  with 
the  Negro,  when  he  was  suddenly  seized  and 
gagged.  An  instant  more  and  the  deafening 
shouts  told  that  the  fort  was  won." 

Thus  it  is  seen  how  the  Negro,  Barbour,  pos- 
sessing freedom  but  not  citizenship  in  terms  of 
the  Colonial  law,  was  the  one  man  who  secured 
for  the  Americans  this  strategic  point  and  cut 
Burgoyne  off  from  his  base  of  supplies  in  Canada. 

Peter  Salem,  who,  when  the  American  forces 
were  routed  with  great  slaughter  at  Bunker  Hill, 
dashed  into  the  thickest  of  the  enemy  and  shot  the 
fierce  British  officer.  General  Pitcairn,  dead  as  he 
mounted  the  ramparts  to  demand  the  surrender 
of  the  remaining  Americans,  was  a  Massachusetts 
slave. 

Samuel  Charlton,  complimented  by  George 
Washington  for  exceptional  bravery  at  the  battle 
of  Monmouth,  where  General  Lee  proved  a  traitor 
to  his  country. 

James  Armstead,  a  famous  scout  under  Lafay- 
ette's command. 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  79 

Prince  Whipple,  who  captured  the  British  Gen- 
eral Prescott,  and  aide  to  General  Washington  in 
the  first  American  victory  at  Trenton,  were  some 
of  the  Negro  soldiers  of  the  Revolution  particu- 
larly distinguished  for  bravery.  Several  hundred 
of  these  brave  men  were  pensioned  for  life  by  the 
new  republic. 

George  Washington  emancipated  his  slaves  after 
the  war  closed,  as  did  Jefferson  and  many  other 
prominent  Southerners.  Lafayette,  the  French 
nobleman  who  contributed  his  means  and  his  tal- 
ents to  secure  the  independence  of  the  American 
colonies,  was  disappointed  on  his  visit  to  the 
United  States  in  1824  to  see  many  of  the  brave 
soldiers  who  fought  with  him  through  the  war 
and  all  their  brothers  still  slaves  to  the  people  they 
had  helped  so  nobly  to  make  free,  and  declared: 
"I  would  never  have  drawn  my  sword  in  the 
cause  of  America  if  I  could  have  conceived  that 
thereby  I  was  founding  a  land  of  slavery.^' 

Kosciusko,  the  brave  Pole,  left  an  endowment 
of  $20,000  in  this  country  for  the  education  of  the 
Negro  children.  Many  others  of  noble  impulses 
expressed  the  deepest  shame  that  the  brave  Negro 
soldiers  and  their  kith  and  kin  were  so  wofully 
neglected  when  the  war  was  over. 

The  Treaty  of  Peace. 

The  treaty  of  peace  between  America  and  Great 
Britain  was  painfully  delayed  for  two  years  after 


80  HISTORY  or  THE  NEGRO 

the  suspension  of  liostilities,  and  tlie  adoption  of 
tlie  constitution  was  not  secured  till  four  years 
later.  The  main  obstacle  that  stood  in  the  way  of 
peace  and  delayed  the  treaty  so  long  was  the 
dogged  persistency  with  which  England  clung  to 
it?  promise  to  protect  and  provide  for  her  Tory 
allies  in  the  Southern  colonies,  many  of  whom 
had  fled  to  Canada,  leaving  their  lands'  and  slaves 
to  the  mercy  of  their  hostile  neighbors.  The 
50,000  or  more  Xegroes  who  served  through  the 
entire  war  in  the  British  army  on  the  promise  of 
freedom  were  shamefully  deceived  and  neglected, 
and  were  handed  over,  in  many  cases,  as  munitions 
of  war,  to  the  victors,  while  thousands  of  others 
were  taken  by  them  and  sold  into  slavery^  in  the 
Barbadoes. 


The  Constitutional 
Convention. 


CHAPTER  XII. 


Framixg  the  Constitution. 

The  constitutional  convention  which  met  in 
Philadelphia  in  May^  1787^  had  no  more  perplex- 
ing question  to  deal  with  than  that  of  slavery. 
The  fierce  antagonism  between  the  slave  States 
and  free  States  brought  the  convention  and  the 
proposed  constitution  painfully  near  the  verge  of 
disruj)tion  and  defeat.  The  questions  "Were 
slaves  to  be  reckoned  as  persons  or  chattels/' 
the  three-fifths  compromise,  "Prohibiting  the 
further  importation  of  slaves  and  the  proposi- 
tion to  exclude  slavery  from  the  Northwest  Ter- 
ritorv'/'  were  questions  which  N"ew  England  and 
South  Carolina  particularly  fought  over,  on  oppo- 
site sides,  with  passionate  denunciations  and 
threats  of  secession,  throughout  the  entire  five 
months  session  of  the  convention. 

On  the  question  of  providing  two  houses  of 
Congress,  one  to  embodv  Mr.  Hamilton's  idea  of 


82  HISTORY  OF  THE  NEGRO 

a  strong  central  government  and  State  representa- 
tion, the  other  Mr.  Jefferson's  for  a  direct  repre- 
sentation of  the  people.  South  Carolina  witnessed 
a  change  of  faith  and  insisted  upon  the  counting 
of  slaves  as  persons  along  with  other  inhabitants 
in  fixing  the  basis  of  representation  in  Congress. 
This  insistence  was  met  by  the  proposition  of  di- 
rect taxation,  whereupon  the  Southern  colonies 
readily  accepted  the  "three-fifths"  compromise. 

The  question  of  preventing  further  importation 
of  slaves  was  compromised  by  prohibiting  it  after 
twenty  years,  in  1808.  The  proposition  to  pro- 
hibit slavery  in  the  Northwest  Territory  was  also 
adopted. 

The  impression,  therefore,  that  the  constitution 
ignored  the  question  of  slavery  comes  with  no 
truth  and  with  very  bad  grace. 

Types  of  the  Two  Sections. 

It  can  be  no  more  the  province  of  sociology  than 
of  history  to  note  that  the  West  and  Northwest 
were  and  will  continue  to  be  what  Pennsylvania  is 
in  all  the  essential  elements  of  civil  life  and  that 
the  South  and  Southwest  will  continue  a  faithful 
prototype  of  South  Carolina.  Immigrants  to  this 
country  that  go  into  the  Northwest  imbibe  the  sen- 
timents of  Philadelphia,  and  those  to  the  South- 
west pass  through  and  carry  with  them  the  senti- 
ments of  Charleston;  so  that  the  Mason  and  Dixon 
Line  is  as  logical  as  it  is  certain;  and  any  effort, 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  83 

civil  or  military,  of  whatever  proportions,  put 
forth  to  obliterate  it  strikes  at  the  very  foundation 
sentiments  of  the  government  and  must  fail 
wofuUy. 

The  Cotton  Gin. 

The  invention  of  the  cotton  gin  by  a  Negro  of 
Georgia  and  perfected  by  Whitney  in  1793,  gave 
an  impetus  to  the  raising  of  cotton  that  called 
into  service  well  nigh  the  entire  carrying  equip- 
ment of  the  world,  to  import  slaves  into  the  South- 
ern States  to  meet  this  new  demand  for  labor.  So 
profitable  was  the  trade  in  human  beings,  and 
60  thoroughly  numb  was  the  conscience  of  the 
world  to  the  vice  of  human  slavery,  that  thousands 
of  white  slaves,  commonly  known  as  indentured 
servants,  were  brought  from  the  centers  of  popu- 
lation in  Europe,  till  at  one  time  they  outnum- 
bered the  blacks  in  the  Middle  colonies. 

The  cloud  which  enveloped  Whitney^s  claim  to 
the  invention  of  the  cotton  gin  from  the  first  drew 
to  the  subject  close  investigation,  which  shows 
that  a  Georgia  Negro  was  the  real  inventor. 
Again  the  question,  "What  has  the  Negro  given  to 
the  world  T  is  answered.  An  extract  from  a  letter 
from  the  assistant  librarian  of  Congress  is  given: 

"Washington,  D.  C. 
"My    Dear    Mr.    Murphy: — Replying   to    your 
favor  of  the  24th  inst.,  I  desire  to  say  Eli  Whitney 
was  a  white  man,  born  in  Massachusetts  in  1765, 


84  HISTOKY  OF  THE  XEGKO 

and  went,  to  Georgia  in  1792  to  take  cliarge  of  a 
school  near  Savannah.  He  gave  some  attention 
to  the  matter  of  separating  the  seed  from  the  cot- 
ton which  i?  called  ginning,  and  was  done  wholly 
by  hand.  His  claim  as  inventor  has  been  suc- 
cessfully disputed  and  in  controversy  the  claim 
was  made  that  he  imbibed  the  idea  from  a  Xegro 
slave  on  the  plantation  of  Mrs.  Gen.  Xathaniel 
Greene,  and  was  seeking  to  impose  on  the  public 
by  claiming  the  idea  as  original  with  himself.  So 
incensed  were  the  planters  at  the  dubious  charac- 
ter of  his  claim  that,  in  a  body,  they  broke  into 
the  barn  where  the  model  machine  was  being 
exhibited  and  destroyed  it  and  forced  Wliitney  to 
flee  for  his  life.     Very  sincerely  yours, 

"Daxiel  Murry.'' 


The  New  Government. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 


Early  Difficulties. 

The  aclministratioii  of  the  new  government 
began  with  the  election  of  George  Washington  to 
the  presidency  in  1789.  An  empty  treasury,  In- 
dian wars,  the  whisky  rebellion  and  efforts  of 
England  to  further  impair  the  credit  of  the  United 
States  abroad,  were  some  of  the  difficulties  that 
confronted  the  country  during  Washington's  ad- 
ministration. Adams,  the  second  president,  was 
defeated  for  a  second  term  on  account  of  his  lean- 
ing toward  the  x\lien  and  Sedition  Laws.  The 
development  of  the  idea  of  party  government  re- 
sulted in  the  election  of  Jefferson,  the  father  of 
Democracy. 

Jefferson's  administration  witnessed  the  pur- 
chase of  Louisiana  in  1803,  invention  of  the  steam- 
boat in  1807,  and  the  expiration  of  the  twenty 
years  term,  after  which  slaves  could  not  legally 
be  imported  into  the  United  States,  1808.  A 
system  of  smuggling,  by  which  hundreds  of  thous- 


86  HISTORY  OF  THE  NEGRO 

ands  of  Negroes  were  brought  to  America,  took 
the  place  of  the  former  constitutional  right.  The 
United  States  census  reports  of  1790  showed  40,- 
370  slaves  in  the  Northern  States,  consisting  of 
New  Hampshire  158,  Vermont  17,  Massachusetts 
none,  Rhode  Island  952,  Connecticut  2759,  New 
York  21,324,  New  Jersey  11,323  and  Pennsylva- 
nia 3737;  and  657,527  in  the  Southern  States, 
comprising  Delaware  8887,  Maryland  103,036, 
Virginia  193,427,  North  Carolina  100,572,  South 
Carolina  107,094,  Georgia  29,264,  Kentucky  11,- 
830  and  Tennessee  3417.  The  strong  abolition 
party  that  grew  up  under  the  influence  of  Wash- 
ington and  Jefferson  in  Virginia  rapidly  melted 
away  in  the  presence  of  the  great  demand  and 
rich  remuneration  put  upon  slave  labor  by  the 
invention  of  the  spinning  jenny  and  the  power 
loom  in  England  and  the  cotton  gin  in  America. 
Although  the  treaty  of  peace  between  England 
and  the  United  States  was  signed  in  1783,  appar- 
ently in  good  faith,  Great  Britain  predicted  that 
the  new  experiment  of  a  republican  form  of  gov- 
ernment in  America  would  fail,  and  constantly 
cherished  and  sought  every  opportunity  to  hasten 
on  the  dissolution.  The  Indians  were  incited  to 
every  manner  of  depredations  on  the  frontier  set- 
tlements. American  commerce  was  preyed  upon 
and  our  sailors  were  pressed  into  British  service. 
These  troubles  brought  on  the  second  war  with 
England. 


Second  Foreign  War. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


War  of  1812. 

The  war  of  1812,  without  which  the  achieve- 
ments of  the  great  Eevolution  would  have  been 
rendered  fruitless,  was,  strangely  enough,  violently 
opposed  at  the  North,  and  was  characterized  in 
Congress  and  by  Northern  orators  as  the  Southern 
war.  With  respect  to  the  Negro,  conditions  were 
the  exact  reverse  of  those  during  the  Eevolution. 
Thousands  of  free  Negroes  enlisted  and  served 
with  rare  distinction  throughout  the  war,  both 
on  land  and  sea. 

At  New  Orleans. 

Negro  Soldiers  to  the  number  of  500  served 
under  General  Andrew  Jackson  at  the  famous 
battle  of  New  Orleans.  As  to  their  bravery  and 
soldierly  conduct,  the  following  speech  made  to 
them  by  General  Jackson  on  the  eve  of  battle  and 
the  official  report  of  Commodore  Shaler  are  suffi- 
cient testimony: 


88  history  of  the  nkgijo 

General  Jackson's  Speech. 

^'To  the  Men  of  Color — Soldiers:  From  the 
shores  of  Mobile  I  liave  collected  you  to  arms.  I 
invited  you  to  share  in  the  perils  and  to  divide 
tlie  glory  with  your  white  countrymen.  I  ex- 
pected much  from  you,  for  I  was  informed  of  those 
qualities  which  must  render  you  so  formidable  to 
an  invading  foe.  I  knew  that  you  could  endure 
hunger  and  thirst  and  all  the  hardshi])s  of  war. 
I  knew  that  you  loved  the  land  of  your  nativity, 
and  that,  like  ourselves,  you  had  to  defend  all 
that  is  most  dear  to  man.  But  you  have  sur- 
passed all  my  hopes.  I  have  found  in  you,  united 
to  those  qualities,  that  noble  enthusiasm  which 
impels  to   great  deeds. 

"Soldiers,  the  president  of  the  United  States 
shall  be  informed  of  your  conduct  on  the  present 
occasion,  and  the  voices  of  the  representatives  of 
the  American  nation  shall  applaud  your  valor  as 
your  general  now  praises  your  ardor.  The  enemy 
is  near.  His  sails  cover  the  lakes,  but  the  brave 
are  united,  and  if  he  finds  us  contending  among 
ourselves  it  will  be  for  the  prize  of  valor  and  fame, 
its  noblest  reward.*^ 

Commander   Shaler's   Eeport. 

"At  Sea,  Jan.  1st,  1813. 
"My   officers    conducted   themselves    in   a   way 
that  would  have  done  honor  to  a  more  permanent 


IN  THE  UXITED  STATES.  89 

service.  The  name  of  one  of  my  poor  fellows 
who  was  killed  ought  to  be  registered  in  the  book 
of  fame  and  remembered  with  reverence  as  long 
as  bravery  is  a  vritue.  He  was  a  black  man  by 
the  name  of  John  Johnson.  A  34-pound  shot 
struck  him  in  the  hip  and  took  away  all  the  lower 
part  of  his  body.  In  this  state  the  poor  brave 
fellow  lay  on  deck  and  several  times  exclaimed  to 
his  shipmates,  'Fire  away,  my  boys;  don't  haul 
the  colors  down !'  " 

(Johnson.) 

In  South  Carolina — The  slaves  in  many  of  the 
Southern  States  had  now  come  to  outnumber  the 
whites.  Groundless  fears,  therefore,  of  a  Negro 
uprising  caused  them  to  pass  very  harsh  and  op- 
pressive laws  against  the  slaves.  In  South  Caro- 
lina, the  slaves  outnumbered  the  whites  two  to 
one,  and  in  Mississippi  the  proportion  was  even 
larger  than  that.  In  these  two  States  the  high 
water  mark  of  severe  customs  and  legislation  was 
reached. 


A  National  Question. 


CHAPTER  XV. 


Abolition  Sentiment. 

True  to  the  promise  made  at  the  breaking  out 

of  the  war  of  the  Revolution,  tlie  Northern  States 

passed   laws   liberating   the   slaves,   when   it   was 

seen_that  the  constitution  contained  no  provisions 

for  it.     Where  the  State  machinery  was  slow  in 

redeeming   the   pledge   thousands   of   individuals 

set  their  slaves  free.     The  zeal  which  the  Southern 
1 

States  exhibited  in  the  constitutional  convention, 
for~tKe~^pefpetmty_andeven  extension  of  slavery 
into  other  sections,  and  the  enormous  proportions 
which  the  system  was  gammg~1}y  the^lmportation 
of  thousands  of  Negroes  yearly,  aroused  the  anti- 
slavery  leaders  in  the  North,  brought  recruits  to 
their  ranks  and  gave  a  more  settled  determina- 
tion  to  slavery  agitators  in  that  section. 

Organizations  Established. 

Numerous  anti-slaver\''societies_vrprp  n^gflTn'zpd 
in  Northern  cities  and  many  political  parties  that 
contended~Ior~'Natio^l  control  presented  plat- 
formsand  candidates  in  open  opposition  to  slavery. 

The  Liberty  Party  Platform,  1839  :  "Resolved, 
That  in  our  judgment  every  consideration  of  duty 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  91. 

and  expediency  which  ought  to  control  the  action 
of  Christian  freemen"  requires  of  the  ASbTitionists 
of'fhe  TJmted  States  to~organiza_a^  distinct  and 
independent  political  p.arty^  embracing  all  the 
necessary  means  for  nominating  candidates  for  of- 
fices and  maintaining  them  by  public  suffrage. 
We  pledge  ourselves  to  the  abolition  of  slavery 
in  the  District  of  Columbia  and  in  the  territories, 
the  abolition  of  the  inter-state  slave  trade,  and 
our  opposition  to  slavery  to  the  extent  of  using  all 
constitutional  methods  for  its  abolition." 

Tlie_Free  Soil  Party  Platform,  1848,  Martin 
Van  Buren,  candidate:  "A  common  resolve  to 
maint^ain  the  rights  of  free  labor  against  the  ag- 
gressions  of  the  slave  jDower,  and  to  secure  free 
soil  to  a  free  people  is  our  pledge.  We  propose 
no  interference  with  slavery  within  the  limits  of 
any  State.  It  was  the  settled  policy  of  the  na- 
tion from  1784  to  1800  not  to  extend,  nationalize 
or  encourage  slavery,  and  to  this  policy  the  govern- 
ment ought  to  return.  Congress  has  no  more 
power  to  make  a  slave  than  to  make  a  king,  and 
we  contend  that  the  only  safe  means  of  preventing 
the  extension  of  slavery  into  territory  now  free, 
is  to  prevent  its  extension  into  such  territory  by 
an  act  of  Congress.  We  accept  the  issue  w^hich 
the  slave  power  has  forced  upon  us,  and  to  their 
demand -for  more  slave  States  and  more  slave  ter- 
ritory, our  calm  but  final  answer  is,  ''No  more 
slave  States  and  no  more  slave  territory.^     There 


92  HISTORY  OP  THE  NEGRO 

must  be  no  more  compromises  with  slaven';  if 
made,  they  must  be  repealed." 

!nie  Free  DemocraticPlatfonn,  John_R_jiale, 
candidate:  ''Slayerj  is  a  s[n_againstGod,  and_a 
crime  against  man,  which  no  human  enactment 
noi^jusage_canmake_right.  The  Fugitive  Slave 
I^w  of  1850  is  repugnant^ to  the  constitution;  we 
therefore  deny  its  binding  force  on  the  American 
people,  and  demand  its  immediate  and  total  re- 
peal. Slayer^'  is  sectiojial  and  freedom  national. 
We  inscribe  on  our  bannei^JFree  Soil,  Free  Speech, 
Free  Labor  and  Free  Men." 

ReplaBTican  Party  Piatfonn,,  1854,  John  C.  Fre- 
mont,  candidate:  "Resolved,  That  the  mainte- 
nance  of  the  principles  promulgated  in  the  Dec- 
laration of  Independence  and  embodied  in  the 
Federal  constitution,  is  essention  to  the  preserva- 
tion of  our  republican  institutions;  and  the -Fed- 
eral constitution,  the  rights  of  the  States  and 
the  union  of  the  States  shall  be  preservedj  That 
we  deny  ThTauthority  of  Congress  or  a  territorial 
legislature  or  any  individual  or  association  of  indi- 
viduals to  give  legal  existance  to  slavery  in  any 
territor}'  of  the  United  States,  while  the  present 
constitution  &hall  be  maintainedT^  That  constitu- 
tion confers  upon  Congress  sovereign  power  over 
the  territories  and  their  government,  and  that  in 
the  exercise  of  this  power  it  is  both  the  right  and 
the  imperative  duty  of  Congress  to  prohibit  in  the 
territories  those  twin  relics  of  barbarism — slavery 
and  polygamy." 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  93 

The  above  Republican  platform  was  aimed  at 
the  famous  Drcd  Scott  Decision  and  the  Kansas 
and  Nebraska  trouble,  as  well  as  the  extension 
of  slavery  in  general. 

A  violent  storm  of  opposition  to  this  anti-slavery 
agitation  was  aroused  at  the  South,  kept  always 
within  the  limits  of  the  constitution,  however. 

Tl^e  Democratic  Platform,  1856,  James  JBu- 
chanan,  candidate:  "ResoTved,  WcTreiterate  with 
renewed^cnergyof  purpose  theweljUconsidereH^dec^ 
larations  of  former  conventions  upon  the  sectional 
issue _of  domestic  slavery." 

The_John_C^__Breekeiuiii^^  Platform  of  the 
Democratic  party  in  1860 :  ''Resolved,  That  en- 
actments  to  defeat  the j\i^^  Mave""Xaw7~or  jn 
any  way  disturb  the  Jnstitution  of  slavery,  are 
revolutionary  in  their  effect."  ~- 

Alexander  H.  Stephens. — In  answer  toJ;he  ve- 
hement appeals  and  demands  oTSSthern  orators, 
Alexander  H.  Stephens  of  Georgia  declared  in  an- 
nouncing the  organization  of  the  Confederate  gov- 
ernment to  the  world_in  1861 :  "Our  newj^ov- 
ernmenrTOoiinded--iijion__exact^  opposite 
idea.,  to  Jhe  freedom  and  equality  of  races;  its 
foundations  are  laid,  its  corner  stone  rests  upon 
the_greaF^th'_|Eiir  to 
*^^^J^i*^  .-5ian ;  that^^slavery — subordination  to 
the  suj)erior  race — is  his~natural  and" normal  con- 
dition."    '             '"       ~ 


Both  Sections  Aroused, 


CHAPTER  XVI. 


Slavery  Further  Agitated. 

The  press  and  pulpit  of  the  JSTorth  combined 
to  stay  the  engulfing  tide  of  slavery,  and  the  most 
sensational  literature  of  every  class  was  scattered 
broadcast  over  the  country.  New  publications 
were   established   solely  to  combat  slavery. 

Benjamin  Lundy,  one  of  the  early  abolition 
agitators,  published  "The  Genius  of  Universal 
Emancipation''  at  Baltimore. 

William  Lloyd  Garrison  brought  out  "The" Lib- 
erator'' in  1831,  declaring  that  he  would  publish 
it  till  every  slave  in  America  was  free.  "The  Na- 
tional Reformer,"  edited  by  William  Whipper,  a 
former  slave,  had  the  effect  of  solidifying  New 
England  in  its^  opposition  to  slavery  and  won  the 
support  of  the  Central  and  Western  States.  Other 
agitators  were  Wendell  Phillips  and  Elijah  Love- 
joy. 

The  Missouri  Compromise  of  1821  was  the  cul- 
mination of  a  fierce  struggle  between  the  pro- 
slaverv'  and  anti-slavery  leaders  in  Congress.  This 
compromise  bill  admitted  Missouri  as  a  slave  State, 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  95 

but  fixed  the  northern  limit  of  slave  territory  at 
the  southern  boundary  of  that  State;  which  was 
after  all  a  decided  victory  for  the  pro-slavery  ad- 
vocates. The  Kansas  and  Nebraska  bill  of  1850, 
put  forward  by  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  to  admit 
Kansas  and  Nebraska  to  the  Union  and  leave  the 
question  of  slavery  to  be  settled  by  the  people  of 
those  States,  practically  nullified  the  Missouri 
Compromise.  Kansas,  though  north  of  the  south- 
ern limit  of  Missouri,  was  admitted  as  a  slave 
State. 

The  Fugitive  Slave  Law. — This  law  provided  for 
the  return  of  slaves  escaping  into  free  States. 
The  law  grew  out  of  the  alarming  number  and 
strange  conditions  surrounding  the  escape  of  slaves 
from  the  South  into  free  States.  It  was  evaded 
in  thousands  of  cases  by  assisting  the  escaping 
slaves  into  Canada  or  to  Europe,  It  was  passed 
by  Congress  in  1850,  mainly  by  Southern  support. 
Personal  Liberty  Bills  were  passed  by  the  Northern 
States  to  offset  the  Fugitive  Slave  law.  Congress 
had  passed  the  Fugitive  Slave  law,  and  the  system 
of  underground  railroad,  though  right  as  to  con- 
science, was  a  flagrant  violation  of  the  United 
States  law. 

The  Died  Scott  Decision  by  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  United  States  was  that  the  slave  Dred 
Scott,  though  carried  into  free  territory,  remained 
a  slave. 

The  case  of  Scott  was  brought  primarily  to  test 


96 


HISTOUY   OF  THE  NEGRO 


what  was  termed  an  invasion  of  the  North  by 
the  Southern  slave  system,  but  was  presented  as 
a  direct  indictment  by  Scott  and  his  wife,  charg- 


Dred  Scott. 


ing  that  they  had  been  unlawfully  deprived  of 
their  libert}^  and  that  thereby  unlawful  hands  had 
been  laid  upon  them.  In  his  decision  on  this 
point  Chief  Justice  Taney  ruled  that  "A  Xogro 
had  no  rights,  under  the  Constitution,  wliich  any 
man  was  bound  to  respect." 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


97 


John  Brown's  Raid  in  1859,  like  the  Nat  Turner 

rebellion  in  Virginia  in  1831,  wa8  the  act  of  a 
frenzied  fanatic  who  attempted  io  free  the  slaves 


Frederick  Douglass. 

with  a  mere  handful  of  followers.  It  failed  mis- 
erably and  Brown  was  hanged.  This  had  the 
effect  of  arousing  the  South  as  nothing  else  had 
done. 


98-  HI&TORY  OF  THE  NEGRO 

Underground  Railway. — An  unlawful  practice, 
of  assisting  slaves  to  escape  from  the  South  into 
Canada  was  carried  on  by  zealous  abolitionists  in 
the  Xorth,  in  an  effort  to  assist  the  lowly  and 
oppressed. 

A  National  Anti-Slavery  Convention  met  in 
Boston  in  1831.  Plans  were  adopted  by  which  the 
blacks  might  be  freed.  More  than  one  thousand 
anti-slavery  societies  were  formed  under  the  au- 
thority and  direction  of  this  convention  in  the 
North. 

Frederick  Douglass. — The  coming  of  Douglass, 
a  runaway  slave  from  Maryland,  into  the  sphere 
of  the  abolition  excitement  with  a  fresh  story  and 
a  new  and  convincing  eloquence,  served  as  a  fuse 
io  touch  off  whatever  latent  passion  and  power 
there  might  still  be  slumbering  in  the  Puritan 
heart.  The  proverbial  last  straw  and  the  culmi- 
nation of  the  inordinate  abolition  sentiment  was 
presented  to  the  world  in  '^Uncle  Tom's  Cabin," 
a  story,  very  largely  fiction  of  course,  by  Mrs. 
Harriet  Beecher  Stowe. 

Election  of  1800. 

Tlie  Republicans  nominated  Abraham  Lincoln 
of  Illinois  on  a  platform  pledging  the  limitation 
of  slavery  to  the  territory  then  occupied,  and  de- 
clared that  "The  normal  condition  of  all  the  ter- 
ritory of  the  Unit^  States  is  that  of  freedom. 
That  the   reopening  of   the   African  slave  trade 


IN  THE  unitp:d  states.  99 

under  the  cover  of  our  National  flag  is  a  crime 
against  humanity  and  a  burning  shame  to  our 
country's  age." 
/" '  The  Democratic  Party  Split  in  convention  and 
'  nominated  three  candidates — J.  C.  Breckenridge, 
John  Bell  and  Stephen  A.  Douglas.  This  divided 
the  vote  of  that  party  and  assured  the  election  of 
the  Eepublican  candidate. 

Upon  Mr.  Lincoln's  election  South  Carolina 
led  off,  with  Mississippi,  Alabama,  Georgia  and 
Louisiana  following  closely,  in  passing  ordinances 
of  secession.  The  Southern  Confederacy  was 
formed  at  Montgomery,  Alabama,  in  February, 
1861,  with  Jefferson  Davis  as  president. 

Conservative  Leaders. 

Efforts  were  put  forth  by  the  more  conservative 
leaders  North  and  South  to  avert  the  approaching 
crisis. 

An  Amendment  to  the  Federal  Constitution  was 
proposed  by  Crittenden  of  Kentucky  to  make  the 
old  dividing  line  of  36°  30'  north  latitude,  along 
the  southern  boundary  of  Missouri,  the  permanent 
limit  of  slave  territory,  and  that  all  slaves  escaping 
into  the  free  States  should  be  paid  for  by  the  gen- 
eral government.  This  measure  failed.  A  com- 
mittee of  Senators  and  another  from  the  House 
of  Kepresentatives,  composed  of  Republicans  and 
Democrats,  likewise  failed  to  find  a  basis  of  com- 
promise.    A  peace  conference  was  called  to  meet 


100  HISTORY  OF  THE  NEGRO 

at  Washington  in  February  before  the  opening  of 
the  new  Congress,  and  twenty-one  States  sent 
representatives,  but  the  antagonisms  were  so  pro- 
nounced and  the  differences  so  wide  that  nothing 
was  done,  Texas,  however,  under  the  influence 
of  General  Houston,  was  the  only  one  of  the  South- 
ern States  to  await  the  action  of  this  peace  con- 
ference before  leaving  the  Union.  The  Historic 
Right  of  Secession  was  held  and  argued  by  South- 
ern statesmen  with  many  facts  and  much  show 
of  fairness  and  good  intentions.  The  disposition 
and  threats  of  New  England  States  to  secede  dur- 
ing the  violent  discussions  of  the  proposed  treaty 
with  Spain  for  a  right  to  navigate  the  Mississippi, 
and  again  while  the  negotiations  for  the  purchase 
of  Louisiana  were  under  way,  show  that  the  ques- 
tion of  secession  was  at  least  an  open  one  and  that 
the  belief  in  it  was  confined  to  no  particular  sec- 
tion. Massachusetts  passed  resolutions  declaring 
that  should  the  proposition  for  the  annexation 
of  Texas  be  carried  out  it  would  force  the  Northern 
States  to  withdraw  from  the  Union. 

Every  Southern  representative  in  the  constitu- 
tional convention  voted  for  the  compromise  meas- 
ure to  exclude  slavery  from  the  Northwest  Terri- 
tory, but  as  the  Constitution  sanctioned  the  univer- 
sal right  by  common  law,  to  hold  slaves  and  to 
be  protected  in  the  rights  of  slave  property,  and  aa 
the  Southern  States  had  found  greater  profit  in 
slaves  and  slave  labor  since  that  time,  it  is  not 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  101 

strange  that  this  section  should  contend  for  every 
right  it  had  under  the  Constitution  as  a  matter 
of  government.  More  than  this  the  South  did 
not  do.  But  the  conscience  and  Cliristian  im- 
pulses of  the  world  called  for  a  fulfillment  of  the 
promises  made  to  the  slaves  at  the  opening  of  the 
Revolution  and  for  the  removal  of  human  slavery 
from  the  midst  of  enlightened  society,  and  no 
horrors  of  war  or  amount  of  bloodshed  could  quiet 
that  call. 

The  Growth  of  the  IJxited  States  to  the 
Civil  War. 
From  the  Narrow  Strip  Along  the  Atlantic  com- 
prising the  thirteen  original  colonies,  the  United 
States  have  multiplied  their  number  and  area  many 
times  by  treaty,  purchase  and  conquest.  The  ter- 
ritory lying  between  the  Alleghany  Mountains  and 
the  Mississippi  River  was  secured  in  the  treaty 
of  peace  with  England.  Louisiana  territory,  ex- 
tending from  the  Mississippi  to  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains, was  purchased  from  France  in  1803.  Ces- 
sions by  treaty,  froni  Mexico,  extending  from 
Mexico  to  Oregon  in  1848,  Washington,  Oregon 
and  Idaho  by  exploration,  the  Gadsden  territory 
south  of  the  Gila  River  by  purchase  in  1853,  and 
Florida  purchased  from  Spain  in  1819.  All  these 
sections  were  convulsed  more  or  less  by  slavery 
agitations  and  the  war  that  followed.  Into  all 
these  possessions  Negroes  have  gone  and  proved  a 
potent  factor  in  their  development. 


The  War  Between  the 
States. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 


Southern  Confederacy. 

TJie  Confederate  government  lost  no  time  in 
showing  tliat  it  waTltL  dead  earnest  ^republican 
fornTof  government  was  established  and  the  au- 
thorrty  of  the  Confederacy~promptly  esTablished 
over  Federal  buildingsTliorts  and  other_jroperty 
in  the  Southern  States.  On  the  refusal  of  Fort 
Sumter  to  capitulate  on  tlie'TIeniand  of  Confed- 
erate  General  Beauregard,  it  was  bombarded  and 
forced  to  surrenderApril  14.  The  attack  upon 
Fort  Sumler~was  the  opening  gun  of  the  great 
Civil  War.  Fortune  was  all  on  the  side  of  the 
Confederacy  for  the  first  year  of  the  war,  and  the 
crushtng^defeat  or  the  Unionforces  at  Bull  Run 
in  July"  came"^ngerousIy^Tar  making 'good'  the 


SoTmiern^boast  that  ^They  would  whip  the  Yan- 
kees and  be  back  to  breakfast." 

The  South  had  not  forgotten  the  magnificent 
conducT~of~ttee'^egroes   in   the   two   wars   with 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  103 

England,,  and  lost  no  time  in  pressing  them  into 
servicer  ~^5^-eat  manX-J££g  Negroes  of  Louisiana 
anfMissisippi  enlistedj^the  Confe^erafe  army 
and  thousands  ofslaves  were  used  to  fortify  and 
defend  Richmond. 

President  Lincoln,  who  seemed  rather  to  tojilow 
tharTtoTead  public  sentiment,  was  with  Congress 
in'  opposing  the  enlistment  oi  Negroes  in  the 
Union  arm}^  and  it  was  not  until  the  successful 
experiment  and  serious  and~perststSEt  recommen-  . 
dations^by  Gene"raTs  Hunter  m  ISouth  Carolina, 
PhelpsliTLouisiana  andjiigginson  in  Flonda  had 
changed  public  sentiment  at  the  North  that  Con- 
gress and  the~preRi dent  relented. 

Pressure  on  Lincoln. — Aii  unbroken  stream  of 
callers  with  eloquent  jpleas__aiid  mammoth  peti- 
tions to  the  president  to  proclaim  the  freedom 
of  the  slaves  showed  only  the  outward  inflexibility 
of  Mr.  Lincoln  on  his  inaugural  declaration  to 
preserve  the  Union  if  possible  without  interfering 
with  slavery  in  the  States  where  it  existed.  This 
was  the  first  time,  perhaps,  that  Mr.  Greeley,  who 
insisted  that  ^^Now  is  the  time  to  strike  a^blow 
at  slavery,  boJthas._a_war  measure  and  as  a  plain 
duty,"  broke  violently  with  the  president. 

Beecher  and  Sunmer  made  passionate  appeals 
in  the  name  of  humanity  and.  the  Union,  to  Mr. 
Lincoln  'tojproclaim  the  freedom  of  the  slaves 
and  enlist  them  to  fight  for  the  L^nion  and  their 
own   freedom.     The   president   was   waiting  only 


104  HISTORY  OF  THE  NEGRO 

for  a  favorablftopportunity  and  promised  that, 
as  a  crowning  celebration  of  the  first  great  Union 
victory,  he  wouldlssue  such  a  proclamation.  The 
opportunity  came  in  the  battle  of  Antietam,  Sep- 
tember iTT?^^^^  when'the  ConfederatlJIEiL ^^ 


driven  out  of  the  North  and  all  danger  of  an  at- 
tacF  Tipton  'Washmgton"  averted:  LincoIn~iiow  is- 
6ued~liis~pfocTamation,  prepared  in  tHe  previous 
JulyTdeclaring  tEe  slaves  in  the  seceded  States  free. 
Mr.  Lincoln  said :  "7  made  a  solemn  vow  before 
God  that  if  General  Lee  was  driven  hack  from 
Maryland  I  would  crown  the  result  by  the  declara- 
tion of  freedom  to  the  slaves/'  This  proclamation 
took  effect  on  the  first  of  the  following  January, 
1863. 

Negro  Soldiers. 

^  More   than  200,000  Negroes  served  with  dis- 
/  Itinction  in  the  ranks  of  the  Union  army  during  the 
Civil  War.     They  were  not  mercenary  troops  or 
adventurers,  but  freemen  now  and  soldiers,  fight- 
ing for  the  Union  their  fathers  helped  to  make 
possible   at   Boston,   Bunker   Hill,   Trenton   and 
Stony  Point,  and  to  render  valid  everywhere  that 
proclamation  which  gave  freedom  to  four  millions 
of  their  brothers. 
j^^j^,     Discouraging  Conditions  surrounded  the  enlist- 
y^        ment  of  Negro  soldiers.     They  were  to  serve  for 
half  pay  and  were  given  no  quarter  if  captured. 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  -105 

A  widespread  disposition  to  test  their  bravery  and 
other  soldierly  qualities  as  well  as  a  lingering 
objection  to  their  enlistment  caused  them  to  be 
exposed  to  the  dangers  and  hardships  of  many 
uneven  contests. 


The  Black  Regiments, 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 


Port  Hudsox. 

■^In  the  second  expedition  against  Yicksburg, 
Grant  had  taken  Port  Gibson,  Jackson  and  A^icks- 
burg  and  defeated  Pemberton  at  Champion  Hills 
and  Big  Black  River,  while  Banks  was  pounding 
away  on  Port  Hudson  ineffectually  for  several 
weeks  with  a  regiment  of  the  best  troops  of  the 
Army  of  the  West  in  May,  1863.  With  a  rest 
only  long  enough  to  breakfast,  after  an  all  night 
march,  two  companies  of  Negroes,  known  as  the 
Black  Regiment,  under  Col.  Nelson,  were  assigned 
the  almost  impossible  task  of  taking  the  fort. 
The  first  five  charges  were  repulsed  with  great 
slaughter,  when  the  last  company  of  the  Black 
Regiment,  maddened  by  the  yell  of  "No  quarter" 
that  came  from  the  fort,  charged  over  the  bodies 
of  their  fallen  brothers  and  hung  on  till  the  Con- 
federate General  Bragg  retreated  from  his  almost 
impregnable  intrenchments,  leaving  it  in  the  hands 
of  the  Negro  troops. 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  107 


MiLLiKEN  Bend. 


General  Banks  with  his  same  regiment  of  black 
troops,  the  next  month,  defeated  the  Confederates 
at  Milliken  Bend  against  great  odds  in  numbers 
and  position  of  the  two  armies.  The  Confeder- 
ates lost  two  hundred  killed,  five  hundred  wounded, 
two  hundred  taken  prisoners  and  two  cannons. 

The  New  York  Times,  reporting  the  battle  of 
Port  Hudson,  in  an  editorial  said:  "General 
Dwight,  at  least,  must  have  had  the  idea  tliat» 
they  (the  Negro  troops)  were  men,  but  something^ 
more  than  men,  from  the  test  to  which  he  put 
their  valor.  TJie  deeds  of  heroism  performed  by 
these  men  were  such  as  the  proudest  white  men 
might  emulate."     (Johnson.) 

General  Banks,  in  his  official  report  of  this  cam- 
paign, said :  "It  gives  me  pleasure  to  report  that 
they  (the  Negro  regiment)  answered  every  expec- 
tation.    Their  conduct  was  heroic." 

THE  FIFTY-FOUETH  REGIMENT. 

Fort  Wagner. 

An  attempt  to  take  Charleston  and  its  auxiliary 
fortifications  resulted  in  disastrous  failure.  Gen- 
eral Gilmer  attacking  it  on  land,  threw  his  vet- 
eran soldiers  of  two  wars  against  Fort  Wagner 
without  effect,  when  Colonel  Shaw  with  the  Fifty- 
fourth  Regiment  of  black  soldiers,  after  resting 
only  five  minutes  from  a  two  days  march  through 


108  HISTORY  OF  THE  NEGRO 

fierce  blinding  storms,  took  their  place  at  the  very 
front  of  the  attacking  column  and  in  the  first 
charge  hoisted  their  flag  on  the  enemy's  works. 

The  historian  Barnes  says  of  this  battle :  "Two 
unsuccessful  charges  were  made  on  this  fort.  In 
one,  the  Fifty-fourth  Regiment,  Colonel  Shaw, 
bore  a  prominent  part.  It  was  the  first  colored 
regiment  organized  in  the  free  States.  In  order 
to  be  in  season  for  the  assault,  it  had  marched  two 
days  through  heavy  sands  and  drenching  storms. 
After  five  minutes  rest  it  took  its  place  at  the 
front  of  the  attacking  column.  The  men  fought 
with  unflinching  gallantry,  and  planted  their 
FLAG  on  the  works.^' 

Final  Struggle. 

With  Grant  around  Richmond.  There  were 
about  30,000  Negro  troops  in  the  final  campaign 
against  the  Confederate  capital,  who  preformed 
prodigies  of  valor,  in  the  battles  of  the  Wilderness, 
Spottsylvania,  Cold  Harber   nd  Petersburg. 

The  Last  of  the  Three  Plans. — The  opening  of 
the  Mississippi,  the  blockade  of  the  Southern  ports 
and  the  capture  of  Richmond  was  now  completed, 
with  the  fall  of  Richmond  and  the  surrender  at 
Appomattox.  The  Mississippi  was  opened  by 
Grant  at  Forts  Henry  and  Donelson  and  Vicks- 
burg,  and  at  New  Orleans  under  Commodore 
Foote  and  fr^neral  Butler. 

Southern  ports  were  blockaded  easily  after  the 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  l<»i) 

battle  of  the  Merrimac  and  Monitor  in  Hampton 
Roads,  March  8,  1862,  in  which  the  Merrimac, 
the  only  formidable  ironclad  of  the  Confederacy, 
was  disabled. 

War  Ended. 

Q^npral  Lee's  surrender  at  Appomattox  April 
9,  JL^65^__ended  the  war  between  the  States. 

President  Davis  of  the  Confederate  government 
escaped  from  Richmond  into  Georgia,  where  he 
was  captured  April  10th.  He  was  indicted  for 
treason  and  sent  to  prison  at  Fort  Munroe,  where 
he  languished  for  two  years,  but  was  never  brought 
to  trial  on  the  indictment. 

Assassination  of  Lincoln. 

President  Lincoln  was  shot  by  John  Wilkes 
Booth,  an  actor  at  Ford's  Theater,  in  Washington, 
on  the  night  of  April  14,  1865,  just  five  days  after 
the  close  of  the  war. 

The  country,  full  of  rejoicing  at  the  return 
of  peace,  was  thrown  into  universal  sorrow  and 
wild  excitement.  Fears  were  felt,  in  every  sec- 
tion, that  this  was  the  inauguration  of  a  general 
reign  of  terror,  but  it  proved  to  be  the  act  of 
an  insane  individual  without  sympathy  from  any 
section  or  connection  with  any  prominent  persons 
interested  in  the  great  conflict  just  closed. 


Reconstruction, 


CHAPTER  XIX. 


Congress  and  President  Johnson. 

Violent  differences  arose  behveen  Congress  and 
the  Pr^gjiJML^over  the  matter  of  readmitting  or 
re-establishing  civil  government  in  the  seceded 
States.  President  Lincoln  insisted  that  the  States 
had  not  been  out  of  the  Union,  but  simply  in 
rebellion,  and  that  it  was  only  necessary  to  replace 
the  military  regime  instituted  to  suppress  the  re- 
bellion with  civil  authority.  His_^plan_J5^  to 
restore  the  State  government  to  the  peo£le_as_soon 
as  the  loyal  people,  iF'niey~sITouTd  constitute  one- 
tenth  of  the  entire  population,  elected  State  offi- 
cials. His  assassination  upset  thls^  plan.  Vice 
President    Andrew    Johnson    became    President. 

Mr.  Johnson  Was  a  Union  Democrat  from  Ten- 
nessee, and  was  thought  by  ardent  Unionists  and 
anti-slavery'  leaders  to  be  in  sympathy  with  that 
section  on  the  question  of  slavery,  the  great  ques- 
tion of  the  war.  Mr.  Johnson  came  up  from  the 
substantial  middle  classes  and  thoroughly  hated 
the  wealthy  and  aristocratic  leaders,  arguing  that 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  Ill 

they  alone  were  responsible  for  the  war.  He 
therefore  put  severe  restrictions  upon  their  re- 
admission  to  citizenship  and  suffrage. 

Congress. — The  representatives  from  the  ten 
Southern  States  were  denied  admission  by  Con- 
gress, and  these  States  were  divided  into  five  mil- 
itary districts  and  placed  under  martial  law. 

Thirteenth  Amendment. — The  Federal  consti- 
tution was  amended  in  December,  1865,  prohibit- 
ing slavery  in  the  States  and  territories  of  the 
United  States.  General  Granger,  in  command  of 
the  Fifth  Military  District,  arrived  at  Galveston 
June  19,  1865,  and  declared  freedom  to  the  slaves 
in  Texas  on  that  date. 

The  Tenure  of  Office  Bill,  a  measure  designed  to 
prevent  the  President  from  removing  from  office 
high  executive  officials  antagonistic  to  his  re- 
construction views,  the  Freedman^s  Bureau  and 
Civil  Rights  bill  were  passed  over  the  President's 
veto. 

The  President  Impeached. — For  attempting  to 
remove  Secretary  of  War  Stanton,  in  violation  of 
the  tenure  of  office  bill,  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives impeached  President  Johnson  in  1868,  but 
his  conviction  lacked  one  vote  in  the  Senate. 

The  Freedmans  Bureau. — A  department  of  the 
National  government  to  protect  and  provide  for 
the  destitute  Negroes  and  whites  in  the  South, 
known  as  the  Freedman's  Bureau,  was  established 
by  Congress  and  General  Howard  was  placed  at 


112  HISTORY  OF  THE  Ni:(!IJO 

its  head.  The  new  department  established  schools 
and  a  system  of  banks  througliout  the  South  to 
teach  the  elements  of  business  transactions  and 
encourage  thrift  and  provide  security  for  the 
fruits  of  their  labor.  The  Bureau  proposed  to 
divide  the  public  lands  in  the  Confederate  States 
among  the  ex-slaves,  and  unscrupulous  carpet-bag 
leaders  argued  that  the  right  policy  went  further, 
even  to  confiscating  the  estates  of  leading  seces- 
sionists and  dividing  it  also  among  the  freedmen. 
The  Freedman's  Bureau,  in  all  except  the  public 
school  system  it  established  in  the  South,  proved 
a  miserable  failure.  The  banks  failed  through 
mismanagement,  relieving  the  credulous  Negroes 
of  thousands  of  dollars  of  the  fii^t  fruits  of  their 
free  labor.  The  confiscation  bogy  and  the  **forty 
acres"  promised  the  faithful  freedmen  proved 
equally  deceiving.  These  unwise  and  more  often 
unscrupulous  practices  were  the  bane  of  the  South 
for  many  years  and  worked  incomparable  hard- 
ships upon  whites  and  blacks  alike  in  the  South- 
em  States. 

Mutual  Understanding. 

There  were  many  things  in  common  between 
the  whites  and  blacks  of  the  South,,  and  the  most 
tender  and  enduring  ties  of  friendship,  bom  of 
a  thorough  understanding  of  each  other,  existed 
and  will  continue  to  exist,  when  free  from  the 


IK   THE  UNITED  STATES.  113 

influences  of  vicious  intermeddlers,  ignorant  of  the 
nature  of  these  relations. 

Ku  Klux  Klans, 

An  organization  in  the  South,  designed  to  check 
the  reckh)!^sne5s  of  the  carpet-bag  governments, 
thougli  it  often  fell  into  the  hands  of  wicked  per- 
sons, took  the  place  of  the  former  civil  order  and 
was  indispensable  in  the  midst  of  the  disorders 
immediately  following  the  war. 

During  President  Grant's  administration  nearly 
all  the  States  of  the  South,  where  the  great  body 
of  freedmen  resided,  were  brought  under  the  con- 
trol of  the  EepubTicanlpai^lHrough^ 
largely,  a^KTThe^  Legislatures  and  nian^  of  the 
minor  execuEK'e' 'offices^DEi^  were  filled 

by  The  carpet-ba.sc  leaders  from  the  North  and 
lie~Trewly  liberated  and  enfranchised  Negroes. 
Neither  class  owned  "any  consTa"efaBre"property, 
and  the  character  of  civil  and  military  adminis- 
tration was  of  the  crudest  sort.  The  great  body 
of  property  owners  in  that  section  had  been  prac- 
tically disfranchised  and  the  Ku  Klux  Klans  were 
instituted^  to  preserve  and  safeguard  society  and 
property  rights.  These  ''Klans''  were  succeeded 
hj  suffrage  rest^i^t^f^'T^S;  brought  about  by  coriati- 
tutional  convention  in  most  of  the  Sou^iern^tates, 
th atjiaye  marked  the  practical  elimination  olHie 
Negroes  from  politics  and  consequently  all  manner 


114  HISTORY  OF  THE  NEGRO 

of  participation  in  the  administrative  affairs  of  the 
State  governments. 

Many  demagogues  have  been  elevated  to  high 
otfiee  on  the  sole  argument  of  "white  supremacy," 
and  the  totally  impossible  scare-crow  of  "Negro 
domination."  The  administration  of  State  affairs, 
however,  has  been  exceptionally  clean  and  states- 
manlike, and  the  property,  educational  and  dis- 
tinct social  advancement  of  both  races  has  been 
phenomenal  under  the  reign  of  general  concord 
and  mutual  good  will  that  survived  through  all 
these  stirring  times.  Henry  W.  Grady,  before  the 
Xew  England  Society,  spoke  the  sentiments  of  the 
South  when  he  declared  that  if  nothing  more  stood 
to  the  credit  of  the  Southern  Negro  than  his  pro- 
tection and  support  of  the  homes,  women  and  chil- 
dren during  the  war  between  the  States,  he  should 
ever  hold  the  race  in  confidence  and  affectionate 
remembrance.  The  hearts  that  prompted  this  con- 
duct in  the  Negro  and  the  universal  sentiment  ex- 
pressed by  Mr.  Grady  will  preserve  the  peace  and 
good  will  of  the  races  to  the  end  of  time. 


The  Negro  in  Civil 
Life. 


CHAPTER  XX. 


Progress  in  Eecent  Times. 

At  the  breaking  out  of  the  war  between  the 
States  there  were  4,000,000  slaves  and  more  than  a 
quarter  of  a  million  free  Negroes  in  the  United 
States.  The  body  of  these  people  in  the  South, 
emancipated  in  1865,  were  unlettered,  ignorant 
of  the  elements  of  the  very  laws  under  which 
they  were  to  live,  unschooled  in  the  theory  and 
practice  of  business  transactions  and  without  a 
dollar.  They  have,  under  all  these  hardships,  pro- 
duced scholars,  eminent  in  all  the  avenues  of 
thought,  have  taken  places  of  honor  in  all  the 
learned  professions  and  have  accumulated  $1,200,- 
000,000  worth  of  taxable  property  in  these  forty 
years  of  freedom. 

Negro  in  Politics. 

Though^  ushered  too  soon  into  the  toils  and 
tu  rrtioils^  a.q^i  ve  pol/tjcs^  whose  pit  fa  lis  the~wisest 


oo  » 
e      « 

or:       r 


IN   THE   UNITED  STATES.  117 

van  not  escape,  Negroes  have  held  every  high  elec- 
ti\:e^office  in  the  American  governmerit  ex^pt  tEe 
presidency.  Twenty-one  Negro  Senators  and 
Congressmen  have  served  in  the  Congress  of  the 
nation,  two  lieutenant  governors  and  one  governor, 
ministers  to  foreign  countries,  consuls,  judges  and 
representatives  in  State  Legislatures  have  come 
out  of  the  great  body  of  ex-slaves  in  the  South. 
Register  of  the  Treasury,  Recorder  of  Deeds,  Col- 
lector of  Customs,  internal  revenue  collectorships 
and  other  high  places  of  presidential  appointment 
have  been  filled  with  credit  by  Southern  Negroes. 

Senators  and  Congressmen. — Among  the  prom- 
inent .Negroes  who  have  served  as  Senators  and 
Congressmen  might  be  mentioned  Senator  H.  R. 
Revells,  who  took  the  seat  vacated  by  Jefferson 
Davis  from  Mississippi,  on  the  readmission  of 
that  State  to  the  Union  February,  1870,  and  who 
was  the  first  of  his  race  to  serve  in  that  branch 
of  the  National  council.  The  next  Congress  had 
two  Negro  members,  J.  H.  Rainey  of  South  Car- 
olina and  Lang  of  Georgia.  The  Forty-second 
Congress  saw  four  Negroes  admitted  to  member- 
ship, among  whom  was  the  famous  Robert  Brown 
Elliott.  In  the  Forty-third  Congress  were  seven 
Negroes,  with  B.  K.  Bruce  in  the  Senate.  Eight 
Negroes  served   in  the   Forty-fourth  Congress. 

In  every  Congress  from  the  Fortieth  to  the 
Fifty-sixth,  except  one,  for  thirty-two  years,  were 
to  be  found  active  and  influential  Negro  members. 


118  history  of  the  xeoro 

Education. 

The  progress  made  by  the  Negro  in  education 
has  been  remarkable,  not  only  in  the  professions  of 
teaching,  medicine,  law  and  the  ministry,  but  a 
plienomenal  advance  has  been  made  in  the  trades 
and  elementary  schools  by  the  great  masses.  The 
per  cent  of  illiteracy  has  been  constantly  reduced 
from  practically  100  per  cent  in  1865  to  about 
40  per  cent  of  the  whole  population  of  scholastic 
age.  Statistics  disclose  the  encouraging  condi- 
tions of  attendance  and  progress  of  2,000,000  Ne- 
gro children  in  the  public  schools  of  the  United 
States  and  the  colleges  of  all  kinds  show  an  attend- 
ance of  over  100,000.  Fisk  University,  Nashville ; 
Howard  University,  Washington,  D.  C;  Atlanta 
University,  Atlanta,  G-a.;  Tuskegee  Institute; 
Hampton  Normal,  Hampton,  Va. ;  Wilberforce 
University,  Xenia,  Ohio;  Eoger  Williams  Univer- 
sity, Nashville,  Tenn. ;  Shaw  University,  Ealeigh, 
N.  C. ;  Wiley,  Bishop,  Prairie  View,  Guadalupe  and 
Sam  Huston  in  Texas,  and  the  great  number  of 
well  equipped  normal  and  industrial  colleges  main- 
tained in  each  of  the  Southern  States  for  Negroes, 
are  turning  out  thousands  of  thoroughly  prepared 
men  and  women  of  the  race  yearly.  Hundreds 
enroll  yearly  in  the  prominent  white  imiversities 
in  New  England  and  the  Northern  States.  Fisk 
University  led  off  in  the  great  work  of  preparing 
Negro  teachers  for  the  schools  of  the  South  in 
1866,  and  has  done  more  perhaps  than  any  others 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  119 

to  reduce  the  per  cent  of  illiteracy  and  to  rear  tlic 
present  generation  of  college  bred  Negroes.  At- 
lanta University  followed  close  and  has  continued 
one  of  the  great  colleges  for  the  training  of  Negroes 
in  the  South.  The  best  type  of  the  sectarian  col- 
leges of  the  first  class  might  be  mentioned  Eoger 
Williams  University,  Nashville,  Tenn.,  of  the  Bap- 
tist church;  Wilberforce  University  of  the  A.  M. 
E.,  and  Central  Tennessee  College,  N^hville, 
Tenn.,  of  the  M.  E.  church.  These  leading  de- 
nominational schools  have  a  more  or  less  perfectly 
correlated  system  of  feeders  in  the  colleges,  sem- 
inaries and  academies  in  nearly  every  populous 
community  in  the  South.  Because  of  the  breadth 
and  freedom  of  these  higher  denominational  and 
independent  schools,  they  are  after  all  the  real 
backbone  of  the  higher  education  for  the  Negroes 
in  the  South. 

The  Songs  of  America. — As  a  race  the  Negro 
bears  the  distinction  of  being  the  only  natural 
orators  and  singers  among  Western  peoples.  The 
famous  Negro  melodies  constitute  the  only  distinct 
type  of  American  songs.  Whenever  an  American 
of  any  extraction,  whether  high  or  low,  is  moved 
to  express  the  tenderest  sentiments  of  his  heart 
in  song,  he  must  put  on  the  manner  and  feelings 
of  the  Negro  and  express  himself  as  such.  An 
inscrutible  Providence  has  decreed  that  the  Negro 
should  write  the  songs  of  America.  "And  he  who 
writes   the   songs   of   a   nation   silently   rules  the 


120  HISTORY  OF  THE  NEGRO 

realm."  No  company  of  singers  has  ever  attracted 
the  audiences  that  greeted  the  Jubilee  Singers  of 
Fisk  University,  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic. 

Journalism. 

A  half  dozen  first  class  magazines  and  more 
than  three  hundred  weekly  and  six  or  more  great 
daily  newspapers  are  owned  and  published  by 
scholars  of  the  race.  These  great  molders  of  sen- 
timent are  abundantly  assisted  and  supported  by 
the  National  Convention  of  Women's  Clubs,  of 
which  Mrs.  Mary  Church  Terrell  is  president,  and 
the  National  Negroes'  Business  League,  with 
Booker  T.  Washington  at  its  head.  No  part  of 
the  modern  press  has  been  freer  from  bias  and 
recklessness  than  these  Negro  journals,  and  no 
bodies  calmer  or  more  thoughtful  than  these 
National  gatherings.  Texas  has  a  separate  insti- 
tution for  deaf,  dumb  and  blind  children  of  the 
race,  with  Negro  superintendent,  oflScers  and 
teachers. 


Charges    R^efuted. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 


Innate  Ability. 

Doubts  Expressed. — Throughout  the  South  se- 
rious doubts  were  expressed  in  the  most  convincing 
language  that  the  Negro  was  at  all  capable  of 
mental  development.  Thousands  subscribed  to 
the  Alexander  H.  Stephen  idea  that  the  normal 
condition  of  the  black  man  was  that  of  servitude, 
where  brute  force  only  was  required,  but  Mr. 
Stephen  lived  to  see  members  of  that  race,  on 
whose  destiny  he  had  pronounced  the  most  scath- 
ing maledictions,  represent  his  own  native  State 
in  the  Congress  of  the  Nation  and  to  see  Negro 
graduates  of  Yale  and  Harvard  universities  live 
and  teach  their  people  in  his  native  city. 

Mr.  Calhoun,  in  one  of  his  great  pro-slavery 
speeches,  declared  that  the  structure  of  the  Ne- 
gro's brain  and  skull  proved  conclusively  his  wo- 
ful  lack  of  the  most  common  mental  endowments^ 
and  opened  what  he  called  the  impassable  chasm, 
when  he  declared  that  not  until  the  Negro  could 
conjugate  a   Greek  verb  would  he  take  him  by 


123  HISTORY  OF  THE  NEURO 

the  hand  as  a  brother.  His  chasm  has  long  since 
been  bridged  and  passed,  for  thousands  of  Negro 
boys  and  girls  all  over  the  South  can  conjugate 
the  whole  list  of  Greek  verbs  as  fast  and  as  ac- 
curately as  could  IMr.  Calhoun. 

The  Charge  Followed  that  the  Negro  could  not 
grapple  successfully  with  the  abstruse  business 
problems  of  the  age,  but  his  vast  accumulation  of 
wealth  during  the  first  forty  years  of  his  freedom 
removes  this  barrier  to  his  admission  to  the  family 
of  capable  races.  One  after  another  of  those  ill- 
advised  bounds  put  upon  his  possibilities  have  been 
broken  asunder  and  passed. 

Tests  of  his  ability  on  the  higher  planes  of  lit- 
erature and  the  sciences  have  been  made,  but  the 
first  honor  places  he  has  won  in  the  greatest  Amer- 
ican universities  over  his  white  class-mates  answer 
the  test. 

The  Last  Charge. — Perhaps  the  last  bounds  set 
to  the  Negro's  capability  was  the  charge  of  a  lack 
of  capacity  for  self-government  and  for  the  pro- 
jection of  organized  endeavor.  But  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  great  African  Methodist  Church  in  the 
United  States,  with  a  membership  of  nearly  a 
million  and  a  half  and  owning  and  controlling 
$10,000,000  worth  of  property,  and  a  dozen  or 
more  "universities,  colleges  and  academies  of  the 
first  class,  prove  their  self  governing  capacity. 

Several  Prosperous  Banks  owned  and  controlled 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  123 

by  Negi'oes,  one  of  which  came  to  the  rescue  of 
Charleston,  S.  C,  the  proudest  city  of  the  South, 
during  the  great  financial  crisis  in  the  spring  of 
1893,  by  lending  the  city  government  money  to 
pay  the  teachers,  when  the  white  banks  of  that 
city  were  either  suspended  or  were  too  nearly  ex- 
hausted to  do  so.  His  business  capacity,  therefore, 
has  stood  the  test. 

Liberia  and  Haiti. — The  splendid  republics  of 
Liberia  in  West  Africa  and  Haiti  in  the  West 
Indies,  organized  and  controlled  solely  by  Negroes, 
are  the  only  governments  in  their  respective  quar- 
ters of  the  globe  that  have  stood  against  revolutions 
within  and  invasions  from  without  for  the  last 
century.  The  Negro's  ability  to  form  and  con- 
duct enlightened  governments  and  organized  so- 
ciety took  a  place  at  first  among  the  seven  wonders 
of  the  world,  but  has  long  since  scouted  that  alarm 
and  placed  these  republics  high  in  the  respect  and 
esteem  of  the  great  nations  of  the  world,  all  of 
which  have  diplomatic  relations  with  these  Negro 
republics. 

The  Baptist  Church,  with  a  membership  of  over 
2,000,000  and  owning  more  than  $12,000,000 
worth  of  property,  colleges,  academies  and  pub-  w 

lishing  houses,  is  controlled  by  Negroes. 

The  MetJiodist  Church. — The  Southern  mem- 
bership of  the  M.  E.  church  is  composed  almost 
entirely  of  Negroes,  with  one  bishop  in  the  epis- 


124 


IlISTOKY  OF  THE  NEGIlO 


copal  council,  Dr.  I.  B.  Scott,  a  senior  secre- 
tary of  the  colleges  and  church  extension  board, 
Dr.  M.   C.  B.   Mason,  and   represent  millions  of 


Kev.  M.  C.  B.  Mason,  Ph.  D. 

dollars  worth  of  property  in  a  score  or  more  of 
colleges  of  medicine,  theology  and  the  arts  and 
sciences. 


Last  Foreign  War. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 


Spanish-American  War. 

The  war  with  Spain  grew  oat  of  the  cruel 
treatment  of  Americans  and  a  wanton  destruction 
of  their  property  by  the  Spanish  on  the  Island 
of  Cuba,  in  an  attempt  to  put  down  a  rebellion 
on  that  island.  The  battleship  Maine  was  blown 
up  with  two  hundred  and  sixty  odd  American 
sailors  on  board  while  on  a  friendly  visit  in  the 
harbor  of  Havana  in  February,  1898. 

The  Asiatic  fleet,  under  iVdmiral  George  Dewey, 
destroyed  the  Spanish  fleet  and  fortifications  on 
Manila  Bay  on  the  first  of  May,  1898. 

On  July  1,  1898,  the  immense  Spanish  force 
of  about  50,000  equipped  men  was  defeated  by  the 
First,  Tenth  and  First  Volunteer  cavalries  at 
El  Caney  and  San  Juan  Hill,  and  the  Spanish 
fleet  under  Admiral  Cervera  was  annihilated  by 
Admirals  Sampson  and  Schley  in  the  harboj  of 
Santiago  June  3,  1898. 

It  is  within  the  easy  recollection  of  the  present 


126 


HISTORY  OF  THE  NEGRO 


generation  how  the  Tenth  cavalry,  the  famoua 
Black  Regiment  of  regulars,  charged  on  over  the 
crouching  forms  of  the  white  troops,  saved  the 
Rough  Riders  from  utter  rout  and  slaughter, 
stormed  the  block  house  and  carried  the  American 


The  Tenth  U.  S.  Cavalrj'  (Black  Regiment),  at  El  Caney, 


banner  to  victory  and  to  glory  at  El  Caney  and  up 
the  heights  of  San  Juan  Hill.  The  question  of  the 
Negro's  bravery  and  soldierly  qualiti^,  which  an 
incredulous  public  carried  over  the  facts  of  the 
Boston  massacre.  Fort  Wagner  and  Port  Hudson, 
of  Petersburg  and  New  Orleans,  was  forever  put 


General  Antonio  Maceo. 


128  HISTORY  OF  THE   NEGRO 

to  rest  in  these  charges  of  the  Tenth  cavalry  of 
Negro  troops.  Since  that  time  three  regiments 
of  Negroes  have  been  enlisted  in  the  regular  army. 

General  Maceo. 

The  most  prominent  Cuban  leader  and  bravest 
military  strategist  was  the  Negro,  General  Antonio 
Maceo,  who  was  treacherously  murdered  by  a  hired 
assassin.  Of  him  President  Palma  of  the  Cuban 
republic  said:  "General  Maceo  was  loved  and 
supported  by  all  men  struggling  for  Cuban  inde- 
pendence, whether  in  a  military  or  civil  capacity, 
and  if  a  man  was  ever  idolized,  that  man  was 
Maceo." 


Noted  Negro  Leaders* 


CHAPTEE  XXin. 


Scholars  and  Statesmen. 

Frederick  Douglass,  the  great  orator,  journalist 
and  abolition  advocate,  was  born  a  slave  about 
1816  near  Eaton,  Maryland,  and  died  February 
20,  1895.  He  ran  away  from  his  master  in  1838 
and  went  to  New  Bedford,  Massachusetts,  where 
in  1841  he  began  lecturing  and  writing  against 
slavery.  During  the  three  years  from  1838  to 
1841,  he  applied  himself  diligently  to  the  pleasant 
task  of  acquiring  an  education  and  to  every  minute 
detail  of  the  nature  and  varying  sentiments  of 
the  question  of  slavery;  so  that  when  he  went 
forth  to  battle  for  the  freedom  of  his  people,  he 
was  the  best  informed  and  the  most  able  advocate 
before  the  public.  In  1845  he  published  an  ac- 
count of  his  life,  as  a  slave,  a  runaway  and  a 
freeman,  which  stood  first,  at  that  time,  of  all 
publications,  in  arousing  the  North  against  slavery. 
Between  1845  and  1847  he  traveled  and  lectured 
with  his  own  inimitable  eloquence  in  England  and 
on  the  continent.     At  the  breaking  out  of  the  war 


130  HISTORY  OF  THE  NEGRO 

Mr.  Douglass  advocated  the  enlistment  of  Negro 
troops  and  personally  organized  the  famous  Fifty- 
fourth  Massachusetts  regiment  of  Xegro  infantry. 
In  1847  he  published  the  Rochester  (N.  Y.)  Jour- 
nal and  in  1850  the  New  National  Era.  His  best 
literary  work  is  his  "Life  and  Times/'  published 
a  few  years  before  his  death.  Mr.  Douglass  filled 
several  public  offices  with  great  credit,  was  regis- 
trar of  deeds  and  minister  and  consul  general  to 
Haiti  during  the  last  years  of  his  life. 

Dr.  W.  E.  B.  Du  Bois  is  one  of  the  ripest 
scholars  of  the  race.  He  graduated  with  the  de- 
gree of  Ph.  D.  from  Harvard  university  and  is 
now  professor  of  History  and  Sociology  in  Atlanta 
university. 

John  M.  Langston  was  born  a  slave  in  Vir- 
ginia December  4,  1829,  but  was  set  free  in  his 
early  youth  and  sent  to  Oberlin  college,  Ohio, 
where  he  gTaduated  in  theology  and  law.  In 
1869  he  was  made  professor  of  Law  in  Howard 
university,  Washington,  D.  C,  where  in  1873  he 
became  dean  of  the  law  department.  He  was  min- 
ister and  consul  general  to  Haiti  from  1875  to 
1885.  On  his  return  from  Haiti  he  served  as 
president  of  the  Virginia  Collegiate  Institute,  dur- 
ing which  time  he  published  a  volume  of  addresses 
under  the  title  of  "Freedom  and  Citizenship." 

Booker  T.  Washington  was  born  a  slave  about 
1859  in  Virginia  and  worked  his  way  through  the 
Hampton  Industrial  Institute.     In  1881  he  was 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


131 


called  to  the  presidency  of  the  Tuskegee  Industrial 
College,  which  was  hardly  yet  begun.  In  these 
twenty  years  he  has  built  up  one  of  the  largest 


voo*v»,5«^x  iy.^  ■ 


Booker  T.  Washington. 


and  most  widely  known  normal  and  industrial 
schools  in  the  world,  and  may  justly  be  called  the 
father  of  the  present  system  of  industrial  educa- 


132  HISTORY  OF  THE  NEGRO 

tion.  Mr.  Washington  has  written  several  books 
on  education  and  racial  questions  that  have  taken 
their  places  among  the  American  classics.  He  has 
been  called  to  address  audiences  of  every  race  and 
in  every  quarter  of  America  and  has  few  equals 
as  an  orator. 

Norris  Wright  Cunerj,  the  son  of  a  wealthy 
Texas  planter,  was  bom  in  1852  near  Hempstead 
and  was  sent  North  to  school  at  an  early  age.  He 
returned  to  Texas  in  1868  and  at  once,  though 
still  a  youth,  became  the  safe  political  leader  of  his 
people,  which  he  continued  to  be  until  his  un- 
timely death  in  1896.  Mr.  Cuney  held  many  im- 
portant offices,  in  all  of  which  he  made  a  spotless 
record.  He  was  for  many  years  city  alderman  of 
Galveston  and  collector  of  customs  at  that  port 
during  President  Harrison's  administration.  In 
politics  as  in  business,  Mr.  Cuney  won  and  held 
the  confidence  and  respect  of  all  parties. 

The  Right  Reverend  Abraham  Grant,  bishop  of 
the  A.  M.  E.  Church,  was  born  a  slave  about  1851 
and  strove  against  positive  denials  and  almost  im- 
possible hindrances  for  a  national  usefulness  and 
its  consequent  reward  on  the  loftiest  plain  of  en- 
lightened human  endeavor.  He  had  the  best  pri- 
vate instruction,  but  took  his  degree  from  the 
great  university  of  experience,  and  it  may  be  said 
of  him,  as  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  that  while  he  had 
little  schooling  he  is  one  of  the  best  educated  men 
of  his  age. 


Other  Great  Leaders 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 


The  Great  Orator. 

Robert  Brown  Elliott  was  born  in  1846  and 
took  his  scientific  degree  in  an  English  univer- 
sity. He  came  to  the  United  States  in  1868  and 
settled  in  Charleston,  S.  C,  where  he  gained  a 
national  reputation  as  a  lawyer.  He  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Forty-second  and  Forty-third  Con- 
gresses from  South  Carolina.  In  his  famous 
speech  in  answer  to  the  assault  of  Alexander  H. 
Stephens  on  the  civil  rights  bill,  Mr.  Elliott  proved 
to  be  one  of  the  best  orators  in  the  National  coun- 
cil and  caused  one  of  his  white  colleagues  to  de- 
clare "If  I  could  speak  like  that  Negro,  I  wouldn't 
mind  being  black."     His  speech : 

"Mr.  Speaker: — While  I  am  profoundly  grate- 
ful for  the  high  mark  of  courtesy  that  has  been 
accorded  me  by  this  House,  it  is  a  matter  of  regret 
to  me  that  it  is  necessary  at  this  day  that  I  should 
rise  in  the  presence  of  an  American  congress  to 
advocate  a  bill  which  simply  asserts  rights  and 
equal  privileges  for  all  classes  of  American  citi- 
zens. I  regret,  sir,  that  the  dark  hue  of  my  skin 
may  lend  color  to  the  imputation  that  I  am  con- 
trolled by  motives  personal  to  myself  in  my  ad- 


134  HISTORY  OF  THE  NEGEO 

vocacy  of  this  great  measure  of  national  justice. 
Sir,  the  motive  that  impels  me  is  restricted  by  no 
such  narrow  boundary,  but  is  as  broad  as  your 
constitution.  I  advocate  it,  sir,  because  it  is 
right.  The  bill,  however,  not  only  appeals  to 
your  justice,  but  it  demands  a  response  to  your 
gratitude.  In  the  events  that  led  to  the  achieve- 
ment of  American  independence  the  Negro  was 
not  an  inactive  or  unconcerned  spectator.  He 
bore  his  part  bravely  upon  many  battlefields,  al- 
though uncheered  by  that  certain  hope  of  political 
elevation  which  victory  would  secure  to  the  white 
man.  The  tall  granite  shaft  which  a  grateful 
State  has  reared  above  its  sons  who  fell  in  defend- 
ing Fort  Griswold  against  the  attacks  of  Benedict 
Arnold,  bears  the  name  of  John  Freeman  and  oth- 
ers of  the  African  race,  who  there  cemented  with 
their  blood  the  corner  stone  of  your  republic.  In 
the  State  which  I  have  had  the  honor  in  part  to 
represent,  the  rifle  of  the  black  man  rang  out 
against  the  troops  of  the  British  crown  in  the 
darkest  days  of  the  American  Eevolution.  I  meet 
him  (Stephens)  only  as  an  adversary,  nor  shall 
age  or  any  other  consideration  restrain  me  from 
saying  that  he  now  offers  this  government,  which 
he  has  done  his  utmost  to  destroy,  a  very  poor  re- 
turn for  its  magnanimous  treatment,  to  come 
here  to  seek  to  continue  by  the  assertion  of  doc- 
trines obnoxious  to  the  true  principles  of  our  gov- 
ernment, the  burdens  and  oppressions  which  rest 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  135 

upon  five  millions  of  his  countrymen,  who  never 
failed  to  lift  their  muskets  and  their  earnest 
prayers  for  the  success  of  this  government,  when 
the  gentleman  was  asking  to  break  up  the  Union 
and  blot  the  American  Republic  from  the  galaxy 
of  nations." 

Replying  to  Representative  Beckys  question, 
"What  had  the  Negro  done?"  he  replied:  "In 
quoting  this  indisputable  piece  of  history,  I  do 
60  only  by  way  of  admonition,  and  not  to  question 
the  well  attested  gallantry  of  the  true  Kentuckian, 
and  to  suggest  to  the  gentleman  that  he  should 
not  flaunt  his  heraldry  so  proudly  while  he  bears 
this  bar-sinister  on  the  military  escutcheon  of  his 
State — a  State  which  answered  the  call  of  the  Re- 
public in  1861,  when  treason  thundered  at  the 
very  gates  of  the  Capital,  by  coldly  declaring  her 
neutrality  in  the  impending  struggle.  The  Negro, 
true  to  that  patriotism  that  has  ever  characterized 
and  marked  his  history,  came  to  the  aid  of  the 
Government  in  its  efforts  to  maintain  the  Con- 
stitution. To  that  Government  he  now  appeals; 
that  Constitution  he  now  invokes  for  protection 
against  unjust  prejudice  founded  upon  caste." 

Gov.  P.  B.  S.  Pinchback  was  born  in  New  Or- 
leans in  1839,  served  through  the  Civil  war,  was 
lieutenant  governor  and  finally  governor  of  Louis- 
iana. 

Blanch  K.  Bruce. — Mr.  Bruce  was  born  in  1841 
in  Virginia,  but  moved  to  Mississippi  after  the 


130 


HISTORY  OF  THE  NEGRO 


war.  He  was  a  member  of  the  United  States 
Senate  for  two  terms  from  the  State  of  Missis- 
sippi and  Registrar  of  the  United  States  Treasury 
by  presidential  appointniont  for  two  terms. 


Senator  B.  K.  Bruce. 


Bishop  H.  M.  Turner  was  a  "Georgia  Free  Ne- 
gro/' bom  about  1836.  He  gained  a  wide  reputa- 
tion as  an  orator  and  man  of  letters,  became  bishop 
of  the  A.  M.  E.  Church  and  has  urged  through 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


137 


the  press,  in  the  pulpit  and  on  the  lecture  plat- 
form tlie  i mm i Juration  oT  the  Negnx.'s  of  America 
to  Africa. 


Bishop  H.  M.  Turner. 

Richard  T.  Greener  came  out  from  the  old 
regiim^  f^iKi  jicnuired  a  liberal  education  in  the 
best  schools  of  the  country.  He  was  a  New  York 
civil  service  examiner  for  a  number  of  years  and 
dean  of  the  Law  school  of  Howard  university. 
He  is  now  United  Staler  consul  general  to  Vladi- 
vostock,  Russia. 


IJWI  HISTORY  OF  THE  NEGRO 

Dr.  Wm.  Scarborough,  a  native  of  Georgia, 
graduated  from  Oberlin  college  and  has  been  pro- 
fessor in  Greek  and  the  classics  in  Wilberforee 
university.  Professor  Scarborough  is  regarded  as 
an  authority  in  Greek,  Gothic  and  Sanscrit  lan- 
guages, and  is  the  author  of  a  Greek  grammar 
that  is  used  as  a  textbook  in  Yale  university. 

Bishop  I.  B.  Scott,  a  native  of  Georgia,  was 
bom  in  1856  and  graduated  from  Central  Ten- 
nessee college  at  an  early  age.  He  entered  the 
ministry  of  the  Northern  Methodist  church  upon 
the  completion  of  his  education  and  served  in  every 
order  of  his  church  from  class  leader  to  the  bish- 
opric. He  was  president  of  Wiley  university  and 
editor  of  the  "Southwestern  Christian  Advocate," 
the  church  paper  in  the  South.  In  1903  he  was 
elected  bishop  for  the  diocese  of  Africa,  the  first 
and  only  one  of  his  race  to  be  elected  to  the  highest 
office  in  the  original  Methodist  church. 

There  Are  Hundreds  of  Others  who  have  shown 
bright  marks  of  special  endowments  of  head  and 
heart,  a  review  of  whose  lives  might  serve  as  an 
inspiration  to  the  generations  to  come,  but  the 
almost  superhuman  strides  made  by  the  great 
masses  on  the  higher  plane  of  American  citizen- 
ship, of  enlightened  living,  of  wealth,  of  educa- 
tion and  religion  are  the  safe  and  sane  stimuli  to 
the  youth  of  any  race  or  generation. 

The  unreasonable  exception  in  the  case  of  the 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  139 

Negro,  however,  of  charging  the  whole  race  with 
whatever  depravity  and  crime  appear  in  a  few 
isolated  individuals,  might  be  counterbalanced  if 
that  school  of  critics  could  be  induced  to  consider 
the  lives  and  influences  of  those  many  thousands 
of  benign  characters,  scholars,  statesmen,  artisans, 
professional  men  and  the  great  body  of  law- 
abiding,  wealth-producing  Christian  citizens  in 
almost  every  community  in  America. 

Negro  Congressmen. 

The  Negro  Has  Had  Senators  in  Revels  and 
Bruce,  members  of  Congress  in  Robert  Small, 
J.  R.  Lynch,  Rainey,  Walls,  Murry,  White,  Cheat- 
ham, Miller,  Langston,  Elliott,  De  Large,  ^ain, 
Lang,  Hyman,  Nash,  Haralson,  O'Hara,  Turner 
and  Rapier,  making  twenty-one  in  both  houses. 
Willis  Menard  having  gone  in  before  his  State, 
Louisiana,  was  properly  readmitted,  was  relieved 
of  his  honors  before  the  session  was  out. 

Two  lieutenant  governors  and  one  governor,  P. 
B.  S.  Pinchback  of  Louisiana ;  Douglass,  recorder 
of  deeds ;  Bruce  and  Lyons,  Registers  of  the  United 
States  Treasury,  and  others  served  with  distinction 
as  ministers  of  this  government  to  foreign  coun- 
tries, consuls,  collectors  of  customs  and  internal 
revenue  collectors.  Federal  judges,  etc.  Under  the 
civil  service  laws  more  than  3000  educated  colored 
men  have  passed  the  examinations  and  secured 


140  HISTORY  OF  THE  NEGRO 

honorable  and  remunerative  positions  in  the  classi- 
fied service  of  the  National  Government,  and  are 
making  brilliant  records  in  every  case.  No  class 
of  professional  men  of  the  race  has  gained  a  more 
uniform  standing  or  done  more  good  or  reflected 
more  credit  upon  the  race  than  the  hundreds  of 
competent  physicians  among  us. 

Statistics. 

In  every  nook  and  corner,  however,  the  20,000 
upright,  intelligent  Christian  ministers  have 
taught  and  lifted  the  benighted  and  lowly  in  a 
truly  missionary  spirit,  when  no  other  agencies 
could  help  them.  The  great  laboring  masses 
among  us,  as  in  all  races,  have  been  the  staff  and 
stay  of  the  race.  They  have  accumulated  the 
greater  part  of  the  $1,200,000,000  now  standing  to 
the  credit  of  the  race.  They  own  a  million  homes, 
ranging  in  value  from  $100  to  $50,000  each.  They 
own  and  cultivate  20,000  farms,  and  are  the  great 
.  producing  classes  in  the   South.     They   are   the 

'^  heirs  and  possessors  today  of  that  industry,  cour- 

age and  fidelity  that  built  up  the  wealth,  made  pos- 
sible the  culture  of  the  ante-bellum  South  and 
supported  and  protected  the  firesides  and  families 
of  the  Southern  soldier  in  the  darkest  days  of  this 
Southland's  history.  No  people  can  possess  those 
virtues,  under  whatever  restraint  and  hardships 
they  may  be  placed,  without  becoming  and  re- 
maining great. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 


*  The  Great  Poet. 

Paul  Lawrence  Dunhar,  bom  in  Dayton,  Ohio, 
in  1872,  sprang  thence  into  universal  esteem  and 
renown  as  one  of  America's  greatest  poets.  Mr. 
Dunbar  was  of  pure  African  descent  and  came  up 
under  all  the  hardships  and  inconveniences  pe- 
culiar to  his  people. 

Of  him  Mr.  W.  D.  Howells,  the  greatest  South- 
em  man  of  letters,  said:  "WHbat  struck  me  in 
reading  Mr.  Dunbar's  poetry  was  what  had  struck 
his  friends  in  Ohio  and  Indiana,  in  Kentucky  and 
Illinois.  They  felt,  as  I  felt,  that  however  gifted 
his  race  had  proven  itself  in  music,  in  oratory,  in 
several  of  the  other  arts,  here  was  the  first  instance 
of  an  American  Negro  who  had  evinced  innate 
distinction  in  literature.  In  my  criticism  of  his 
book  I  had  alleged  Dumas  in  France,  and  I  for- 
getfully failed  to  allege  the  far  greater  Pushkin 
in  Russia;  but  these  were  both  mulattoes,  who 
might  have  been  disposed  to  derive  their  qualities, 
from  the  little  white  blood  in  them,  which  waa 
vastly  more  artistic  than  ours,  and  who  were  the 
creatures  of  an  environment  more  favorable  to 
their   literary   development.     So   far   as  I   could 


142 


HISTORY  OF  THE  NEGRO 


remember,  Paul  Dunbar  was  the  only  man  of  pure 
African  blood  and  American  civilization  to  feel 
the  Negro  life  aesthetically  and  express  it  lyric- 
ally.    It   seems    to   me    that    this    had    come   to 


Paul  Lawrence  Dunbar. 


its  most  modern  consciousness  in  him,  and  that 
his  brilliant  and  unique  achievement  was  to  have 
studied  the  American  Negro  objectively,  and  to 
have  represented  him  as  he  found  him  to  be, 
with  humor,  with  sympathy,  and  yet  with  what 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  143 

the  reader  must  instinctively  feel  to  be  entire 
truthfulness.  I  said  that  a  race  which  had  come 
to  this  effect  in  any  member  of  it  had  attained 
civilization  in  him,  and  I  permitted  myself  the 
imaginative  prophecy  that  the  hostilities  and  the 
prejudices  which  had  so  long  constrained  his  race 
were  destined  to  vanish  in  the  arts;  that  these 
were  to  be  the  final  proof  that  God  had  made 
of  one  blood  all  nations  of  men.  I  thought  his 
merits  positive  and  not  comparative;  and  I  held 
that  if  his  black  poems  had  been  written  by  a 
white  man  I  should  not  have  found  them  less  ad- 
mirable. I  accept  them  as  an  evidence  of  the 
essential  unity  of  the  human  race,  which  does 
not  think  and  feel  black  in  one  and  white  in  an- 
other, but  humanity  in  all. 

"W.    D.    HOWELLS." 

Mr.  Dunbar  has  published  several  volumes  of 
his  poetic  and  prose  selections  that  show  him  to 
the  reading  public  to  be  a  genius  of  the  first 
magnitude.  He  has  crystalized  the  folk  lore  and 
idiomatic  language  of  his  people  and  did  for  the 
Negro  dialect  of  former  times,  by  means  of  the 
finest  art,  what  Chaucer  did  for  the  Old  English. 
Excerpts  from  two  of  Mr.  Dunbar's  poems  in 
Negro  dialect,  "When  Malindy  Sings''  and  "The 
Party,"  are  given : 


144  HISTORY   OF  THE   NEGUO 


WHEN   MALINDY   SINGS. 

GVay   an'    quit   dat   noise,    Miss    Lucy- 
Put  dat  music  box  away; 

What  's  de  use  to  keep  on  tryin'? 
Ef  you   practice   twell   you're  gray, 

You  cain't  sta't  no  notes  a-flyin' 
Lak   de   ones   dat   rants    and   rings 

F'om   de   kitchen   to   de   big   woods 
When    Malindy    sings. 


You   ain't   go   de   nachel   o'gans 

Fu'   to    make    de   soun'    come   right, 
You   ain't  got   de  tu'ns   an'   twistin's 

Fu'  to  make  it  sweet  an'  light. 
Tell  you  one  thing  now,  Miss  Lucy, 

An'  I   'm   tellin'  you  fu'   true, 
When   hit   comes   to   raal   right   singin', 

'T  ain't  no  easy  thing  to  do. 


Easy   'nough   fu'   folks  to   holah, 

Lookin'  at  de  lines  an'  dots. 
When    dey   ain't   no    one   kin    sence    it. 

An'  de  chune  comes  in,  in  spots; 
But  fu'  real  melojous  music, 

Dat  jes'  strikes  yo'  hea't  an'  clings. 
Jes'  you   stan'   an'   listen  wif   me 

When  Malindy  sings. 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  145 

AinH   you   nevah   hyead    Malindy? 

Blessed    soul,   tek   up    de    cross! 
Look   hyeah,   ain't  you  jokin',   honey? 

Well,  you  don't  know  what  you  los\ 
Y'   ought   to   hyeah   dat  gal   a-wa'blin', 

Robins,  la'ks,  an'  all  dem  things, 
Heish  dey  moufs  an'  hides  dey  faces 

When  Malindy  sings. 


Fiddlin'   man   jes'   stop   his   fiddlin', 

Lay   his  fiddle  on   de  she'f; 
Mockin'-bird    quit   tryin'    to    whistle, 

'Cause  he  jes'   so   shamed   hisse'f. 
Folks    a-playin'    on    de   banjo 

Draps  dey  fingahs  on  de  strings — 
Bless  yo'  soul — fu'gits  to  move  'em. 

When   Malindy  sings. 


She   jes'   spreads   huh  moufh   an'  hoUahs, 

"Come  to  Jesus,"  twell  you  hyeah 
Sinnahs'  tremblin'  steps  an'  voices, 

Timid-lak   a-drawin'   neah; 
Den  she  tu'ns  to  "Rock  of  Ages," 

Simply   to   de   cross   she  clings. 
An'  you  fin'  yo'   teahs  a-drappin' 

When  Malindy  sings. 


146  HISTORY  OF  THE  NEGRO 

Who  dat  says  dat  humble  praises 

Wif  de  Master  nevah   counts? 
Heish  yo^  mouf,  I  hyeah  dat  music, 

Ez  hit  rises  up   an'  mounts — 
Floatin'  by  de  hills  an'  valleys, 

Way  above  dis  buryin'  sod, 
Ez   hit  makes   its   way   in   glory 

To  de  very  gates  of  God ! 


Oh,  hit's  sweetah  dan  de   music 

Of   an   edicated   band; 
An'  hit's  dearah  dan  de  battle's 

Song  o'   triumph   in   de   Ian'. 
It  seems   holier  dan   evenin' 

When   de  solemn  chu'ch  bell   rings, 
Ez  I  sit  an'  ca'mly  listen 

While  Malindy  sings. 


Towsah,   stop    dat   ba'kin',   hyeah   me! 

Mandy,  mek  dat  chile  keep  still; 
Don't  you  hyeah  de  echoes  callin' 

Fom   de  valley  to    de  hill? 
Let  me  listen,  I  can  hyeah   it, 

Th'oo  de  bresh  of  angel's  wings, 
Sof  an'  sweet,  "Swing  Low,  Sweet  Chariot/ 

Ez  Malindy  sings. 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  147 

THE   PARTY. 

Dey  had  a  gread  big  pahty  down  to  Tom's  de 

othah  night; 
Was  I  dah?     You  bet!     I  nevah  in  my  life  see 

sich  a  sight; 
All  de  folks  fom  fou'  plantations  was  invited,  an' 

dey  come, 
Dey   come   troopin'   thick   ez   chillun   when   dey 

hyeahs  a  fife  an'  drum. 
Evahbody  dressed  deir  fines' — Heish  yo'  mouf  an* 

git  away, 
Ain't  seen  no  sich  fancy  dressin'  sence  las'  quah'tly 

meetin'  day; 
Gals  all  dressed  in  silks  an'  satins,  not  a  wrinlile 

ner  a  crease. 
Eyes  a-battin',  teeth  a-shinin',  haih  breshed  back 

ez  slick  ez  grease; 
Shu'ts   all   tucked   an'   puffed    an'    ruffled,   evah 

blessed  seam  an'  stitch; 
Ef  you  'd  seen  'em  wif  deir  mistus,  could  n't 

swahed  to  which  was  which. 
Men  all  dressed  up  in  Prince  Alberts,  swallertails 

'u'd  tek  yo'  bref! 
I  cain't  tell  yo'  nothin'  'bout  it,  y'  ought  to  seen 

it   fu'   yo'se'f. 
Who  was  dah?     Now  who  you  askin'?     How  you 

'spect  I  gwine  to  know? 
You  mus'  think  I   stood   an'  counted  evahbody 

at  de  do*. 


148  HISTORY  OF  THE  NEGRO 

Ole  man  Babah's  house-boy  Isaac,  brung  dat  gal, 

Malindy  Jane, 
Huh  a-hangin'  to  his  elbow,  him  a-struttin'  wif 

a  cane; 
My,  but  Hahvey   Jones   was  jealous!   seemed   to 

stick  him  lak  a  tho'n; 
But  he  laughed  with  Viney  Cahteh,  tryin'  haM 

to  not  let  on, 
But  a  pusson  would  'a'  noticed  f  om  de  direction 

of  his  look, 
Dat  he  was  watchin^  ev'ry  step  dat  Ike  an'  Lindy 

took. 
Ike  he   foun'   a   cheer   an'   asked   huh :     "Won't 

you  set  down?"  wif  a  smile. 
An'  she  answe'd  up  a-bowin,  "Oh,  I  reckon  't  ain't 

wuth  while." 
Dat  was  jes'  fu'  style,  I  reckon,  'cause  she  sot 

down  jes'  de  same, 
An'  she  stayed  dah  twell  he  fetched  huh  fu'  to 

jine  some  so't  o'  game; 
Den  I  hyeahd  him  say  in'  propah,  ez  she  riz  to 

go  away, 
"Oh,  you  raly  mus'  excuse  me,  fu'  I  hardly  keers 

to  play." 
But  I  seen  huh  in  a  minute  wif  de  othahs  on  de 

flo'. 
An'   dah   wasn't   any   one   o'   dem   a-playin'   any 

mo'; 
Comin'  down  de  flo'  a-bowin'   an'   a-swayin'   an 

a-swingin', 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  149 

Puttin'  on  huh  high-toned  mannahs  all  de  time 

dat  she  was  singin': 
*'0h,  swing  Johnny  up  an'  down,  swing  him  all 

aroun'. 
Swing  Johnny  up  an'  down,  swing  him  all  aroun'. 
Oh,  swing  Johnny  up  an'  down,  swing  him  all 

aroun', 
Fa'  you  well,  my  dahlin'." 
Had  to  laff  at  ole  man  Johnson,  he's  a  caution 

now,  you  bet — 
Hittin'  close  onto  a  hunderd,  but  he's  spry  an' 

nimble  yet; 
He  'lowed  how  a-so't  o'  gigglin',  "I  ain't  ole,  I'll 

let  you  see, 
EFain't  no  use  in  gittin'  feeble,  now  you  young- 

stahs  jes'  watch  me/' 
An'  he  grabbed   ole  Aunt  Marier — weighs  th'ee 

hunderd  mo'er  less. 
An'  he  spun  huh  'roun'  de  cabin  swingin'  Johnny 

lak  de  res'. 
Evahbody   laffed   an'   hollahed:     "Go   it!    Swing 

huh.  Uncle  Jim !" 
An'  he  swung  huh,  too,  I  reckon,  lak  a  youngstah, 

who  but  him. 
Dat  was  bettah  'n  young  Scott  Thomas,  tryin'  to 

be  so  awful  smaht. 
You  know  when  dey  gits  to  singin'  an'  dey  comes 

to  dat  ere  paht: 

"In  some  lady's  new  brick  house. 

In  some  lady's  gyahden. 


150  HISTORY  OF  THE  NEGRO 

Ef  you  don't  let  me  out,  I  will  jump  out, 

So  fa'  you  well,  my  dahlin'." 
Den  dey's  got  a  circle  'roun'  you,  an'  you's  got 

to  break  de  line; 
Well,  dat  dahky  was  so  anxious,  lak  to  bust  his- 

se'f  a-tryin'; 
Kep'  on  blund'rin'  'roun'  an'  foolin'  'twell  he  giv* 

one  gred  big  jump, 
Broke  de  line,  an'  lit  head-fo'most  in  de  fiahplaca 

right  plump; 
Hit  'ad  fiah  in  it,  mind  you;  well,  I  thought  my 

soul  I'd  bust, 
Tried  my  bes'  to  keep  f  om  laffin',  but  hit  seemed 

like  die  I  must! 
Y'  ought  to  seen  dat  man  a-scramblin'  f  om  de 

ashes  an'  de  grime. 
Did  it  bu'n  him!  Sich  a  question,  why  he  didn't 

give  it  time; 
Th'owed  dem  ashes  an'  dem  cindahs  evah  which- 

a-way"  I  guess. 
An'  you  nevah  did,  I  reckon,  clap  yo'  eyes  on 

sich  a  mess; 
Fu'  he  sholy  made  a  picter  an'  a  funny  one  to 

boot, 
Wif  his  clothes  all  full  o'  ashes  an'  his  face  all 

full  o'  soot. 
Well,  hit  laked  to  stopped  de  pahty,  an'  I  reckon 

lak  ez  not 
Dat  it  would  ef  Tom's  wife,  Mandy,  hadn't  hap- 
pened on  de  spot. 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  Idl 

To  invite  us  out  to  suppah — well,  we  scrambled 

to  de  table, 
An'    I    lak   to   tell  you   'bout   it — what  we   had 

— ^but  I   ain't  able, 
Mention  jes'  a  few  things,  dough  I  know  I  hadn't 

orter, 
Fu'  I  know't  will  staht  a  hank'rin'  an'  yo'  raouf 

'11  'mence  to  worter. 
We  had  wheat  bread  white  ez  cotton  an'  a  egg 

pone  jes  like  gol'. 
Hog  jole,  bilin'  hot  an'  steamin',  roasted  shoat  an' 

ham  sliced  cold — 
Look  out!  What's  de  mattah  wif  you?     Don't  be 

fallin'  on  de  flo'; 
Ef  it's  go'n'  to  'feet  you  dat  way,  I  won't  tell  you 

nothin'  mo'. 
Dah  now — well^  we  had  hot  chittlin's — now  you*s 

tryin'  ag'in  to  fall, 
Cain't  you  stan'  to  hyeah  about  it?     S'pose  you'd 

been  an'  seed  it  all; 
Seed  dem  gread  big  sweet  peraters,  layin'  by  de 

possum's  sde. 
Seed  dat  coon  in  all  his  gravy,  reckon  den  you'd 

up  an'  died! 
Mandy'  lowed  "You  all  mus'  'sense  me,  d'wa'n't 

much  upon  my  she'ves, 
But  I's  done  my  bes'  to  suit  you,  so  set  down  an' 

he'p  yo'se'ves." 
Tom,  he  'lowed :     "I  don't  b'lieve  in  'pologisin' 

an'  perfessin', 


152  HISTORY  OF  THE  NEGRO 

Let  'em  tek  it  lak  dey  ketch  it.     Eldah  Thompson, 

ask  de  blessin'." 
Wish  you'd  seed  dat  colored  preachah  cleah  his 

th'oat  an'  bow  his  head; 
One  eye  shet,  an'  one  eye  open, — dis  is  evah  wud 

he  said: 
'^Lawd,  look  down  in  tendah  mussy  on  sich  gen- 
erous hea'ts  ez  dese; 
Make  us  truly  thankful,  amen.     Pass  dat  possum, 

ef  you  please!" 
Well,  we  eat  and  drunk  ouah  po'tion,  'twell  dah 

wasn't  nothin'  lef, 
An'  we  felt  jes'  like  new  sausage,  we  was  mos' 

nigh  stuffed  to  def ! 
Tom,  he  knowed  how  we'd  be  feelin',  so  he  had 

de  fiddlah  'roun'. 
An'  he  made  us  cleah  de  cabin  fu'  to  dance  dat 

suppah  down. 
-Jim,  de  fiddlah,  chuned  his  fiddle,  put  some  rosum 

on  his  bow. 
Set  a  pine  box  on  de  table,  mounted  it  an'  let 

huh  go! 
He's  a  fiddlah,  now  I  tell  you,  an'  he  made  dat 

fiddle  ring, 
'Twell  de  ol'est  an'  de  lamest  had  to  give  der 

feet  a  fling. 
Jigs,  cotillions,   reels  an'   break-downs,   cordrills 

an'  a  waltz  er  two; 
Bless  yo'  soul,  dat  music  winged  'em  an'  dem 

people  lak  to  flew. 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  153 

Cripple  Joe,   de   ole   rheumatic,   danced   dat  flo* 

f'om  side  to  middle, 
Th'owed  away  his  crutch  an'  hopped  it,  what's 

rheumatics  'gainst  a  fiddle? 
Eldah  Thompson  got  so  tickled  dat  he  lak  to  los' 

his  grace, 
Had  to  tek  bofe  feet  an'  hoi'  dem  so's  to  keep 

'em  in  deir  place. 
An'  de  Christuns  an'  de  sinnahs  got  so  mixed  up 

on  dat  flo', 
Dat  I  don't  see  how  dey'd  pahted  ef  de  trump 

had  chanced  to  blow. 
Well,  we  danced  dat  way  an'  capahed  in  de  mos' 

redic'lous  way, 
'Twell  de  roostahs  in  de  bahnyard  cleahed  deir 

th'oats  an'  crowed  fu'  day. 
Y'  ought  to  been  dah,  fu'  I  tell  you  evahthing 

was  rich  an'   prime, 
An'  dey  ain't  no  use  in  talkin',  we  jes'  had  one 

scrumptious  time ! 

— From  Lyrics  of  Lowly  Life. 


CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 


Preamble. 

We,  the  people  of  the  United  States,^  in  order 
to  form  a  more  perfect  union,  establish  justice, 
insure  domestic  tranquillity,  provide  for  the  com- 
mon defense,  promote  the  general  welfare,  and  se- 
cure the  blessings  of  liberty  to  ourselves  and  our 
posterity,  do  ordain  and  establish  this  Constitu- 
tion for  the  United  States  of  America. 

ARTICLE  I.— LEGISLATIVE  DEPART- 
MENT. 

Section  1. — Congress. 

All  legislative  powers  herein  granted  shall  be 
vested  in  a  Congress  of  the  United  States,  which 
shall  consist  of  a  Senate  and  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives. 


*  As  originally  adopted  by  the  convention,  this  clause 
began  with  the  words,  "We,  the  people  of  the  States  of 
New  Hampshire,  Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island  .  .  .  ," 
etc..  naming  each  of  the  thirteen.  But  it  was  agreed 
that  only  nine  states  ratifying  should  be  sufficient  to 
establish  the  Constitution  between  themselves,  and  as  it 
was  impossible  to  foretell  which  states  would  compose 
the  number  ratifying,  the  language  of  the  preamble  was 
changed  to  a  general  term  to  include  the  people  of  such 
states  as   should  favor   the  new   government. 

The  articles  of  Confederation  were  established  by  the 
states,  acting  In  most  instances  through  their  Legisla- 
tures; the  Constitution  was  established  by  the  states, 
acting  in  all  cases  through  conventions  of  their  people. 


;  :■  in  the  united  states.  155 

Section  2. — House  of  Representatives. 
Election  of  Members. 

The  House  of  Representatives  shall  be  composed 
of  members  chosen  every  second  year  by  the  people 
of  the  several  States,  and  the  electors^  in  each 
State  shall  have  the  qualifications  requisite  for 
electors2  of  the  most  numerous  branch  of  the 
State  Legislature. 

Qualifications. 

Xo  person  shall  be  a  Representative  who  shall 
not  have  attained  to  the  age  of  twenty-five  years, 
and  been  seven  years  a  citizen  of  the  United  States, 
and  who  shall  not,  when  elected,  be  an  inhabitant 
of  that  State  in  which  he  shall  be  chosen. 

Apportionment. 

Representatives  and  direct  taxes  shall  be  ap- 
portioned among  the  several  States  which  may  be 
included  within  this  Union,  according  to  their 
respective  numbers,^  which  shall  be  determined 
by  adding  to  the  whole  number  of  free  persons,  in- 
cluding those  bound  to  service  for  a  term  of  years, 
and  excluding  Indians  not  taxed,  three-fifths  of  all 
other  persons.*     The  actual  enumeration  shall  be 

ITstoV'^S'^^  ^^^^^^  ^^^^^  ^^  °"^  representative  for  every 

T^iMTJJil^Y'    h^^   means    slaves.     The    Fourteenth   and 
Fifteenth  Amendments  annul  this  provision. 


156  HISTORY  OF  THE  NEGRO 

made  within  three  years  after  the  first  meeting 
of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  and  within 
every  subsequent  term  of  ten  years,  in  such  man- 
ner as  they  shall  by  law  direct.  The  number  of 
Representatives  shall  not  exceed  one  for  every 
iMitj  thousand,  but  each  State  shall  have  at  least 
one  Representative:  and  until  such  enumeration 
shall  be  made,  the  State  of  New  Hampshire  shall 
be  entitled  to  choose  three;  Massachusetts,  eight; 
Rhode  Island  and  Providence  Plantations,  one; 
Connecticut,  five ;  New  York,  six ;  New^  Jersey, 
four;  Pennsylvania,  eight;  Delaware,  one;  Mary- 
land, six;  Virginia,  ten;  North  Carolina,  five; 
South  Carolina,  five;  Georgia,  three. 

Vacancies. 

When  vacancies  happen  in  the  representation 
from  any  State,  the  executive  authorit}^^  thereof 
shall  issue  writs  of  election  to  fill  such  vacancies. 

Officers. — Impeachm  ent. 

The  House  of  Representatives  shall  choose  their 
Speaker  and  other  officers ;  and  shall  have  the  sole 
power  of  impeachment. 

Sectiox  3. — Senate. 

Number  of  Senators. — Election. 

The  Senate  of  the  United  States  shall  be  com- 
posed of  two  Senators  from  each  State,  chosen  by 


5  Governor. 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  157 

the  Legislature  thereof,  for  six  years;  and  each 
Senator  shall  have  one  vote. 

Classification. 

Immediately  after  they  shall  be  assembled  in 
consequence  of  the  first  election,  they  shall  be 
divided  as  equally  as  may  be  into  three  classes. 
The  seats  of  the  Senators  of  the  first  class  shall 
be  vacated  at  the  expiration  of  the  second  year; 
of  the  second  class,  at  the  expiration  of  the  fourth 
year;  of  the  third  class,  at  the  expiration  of  the 
sixth  year,  so  that  one-third  may  be  chosen  every 
second  year;  and  if  vacancies  happen  by  resigna- 
tion, or  otherwise,  during  the  recess  of  the  Legis- 
lature of  any  State,  the  executive^  thereof  may 
make  temporary  appointments  until  the  next  meet- 
ing of  the  Legislature,  which  shall  then  fill  such 
vacancies. 

Qualifications. 

Xo  person  shall  be  a  Senator  who  shall  not  have 
attained  to  the  age  of  thirty  years,  and  been 
nine  years  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  and  who 
shall  not,  when  elected,  be  an  inhabitant  of  that 
State  for  which  he  shall  be  chosen. 

President  of  Senate. 

The  Vice-President  of  the  LTnited  States  shall 
be  President  of  the  Senate,  but  shall  have  no 
vote,  unless  they  be  equally  divided. 

*>  Governor. 


158  HISTORY  OF  THE  NEGRO 

Officers. 

The  Senate  shall  choose  their  other  officers,  and 
also  a  President  pro  tempore,  in  the  absence  of  the 
Vice-President,  or  when  he  shall  exercise  the  of- 
fice of  President  of  the  United  States. 

Trials  of  Impeachment. 

The  Senate  shall  have  the  sole  power  to  try  all 
impeachments:  When  sitting  for  that  purpose, 
they  shall  be  on  oath  or  affirmation.  When  the 
President  of  the  United  States  is  tried,  the  Chief 
Justice  shall  preside:  and  no  person  shall  be  con- 
victed without  the  concurrence  of  two-thirds  of 
the  members  present. 

Judgment  in  Case  of  Conviction. 

Judgment  in  cases  of  impeachment  shall  not 
extend  further  than  to  removal  from  office,  and 
disqualification  to  hold  and  enjoy  any  office  of 
honor,  trust,  or  profit  under  the  United  States; 
but  the  party  convicted  shall  nevertheless  be  liable 
and  subject  to  indictment,  trial,  judgment,  and 
punishment,  according  to  law. 

Section  4. — Both  Houses. 

Manner  of  Electing  Members. 

The  times,  places  and  manner  of  holding  elec- 
tions for  Senators  and  Representatives  shall  be 
prescribed  in  each  State  by  the  Legislature  there- 
of; but  the  Congress  may  at  any  time,  by  law. 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  159 

make  or  alter  such  regulations,  except  as  to  the 
places  of  choosing  Senators^ 

Meetings  of  Congress. 
The  Congress  shall  assemble  at  least  once  in 
every  year,  and  such  meeting  shall  be  on  the  first 
Monday  in  December,  unless  they  shall  by  law 
appoint  a  different  day. 

Section  5. — The  Houses   Separately. 
Organization. 

Each  house  shall  be  the  judge  of  elections,  re- 
turns and  qualifications  of  its  own  members,  and  a 
majority  of  each  shall  constitute  a  quorum  to  do 
business ;  but  a  smaller  number  may  adjourn  from 
day  to  day,  and  may  be  authorized  to  compel  the 
attendance  of  absent  members,  in  such  manner, 
and  under  such  jDenalties,  as  each  house  may  pro- 
vide. 

Rules. 

Each  house  may  determine  the  rules  of  its  pro- 
ceedings, punish  its  members  for  disorderly  be- 
havior, and,  with  the  concurrence  of  two-thirds, 
expel  a  member. 

Journal. 
Each  house  shall  keep  a  journal  of  its  proceed- 
ings, and  from  time  to  time  publish  the  same,  ex- 
cepting such  parts  as  may  in  their  judgment  re- 


^  otherwise,  Congress  would  have  power  to  fix  the  places 
of  meeting  of  State  Legislatures. 


160  HISTORY  OF  THE  XEGEO 

quire  secrecy,  and  the  yeas  and  nays  of  the  mem- 
bers of  either  house  on  any  question  shall,  at  the 
desire  of  one-fifth  of  those  present,  be  entered  on 
the  journal. 

Adjournment. 

Neither  house,  during  the  session  of  Congress, 

shall,  without  the  consent  of  the  other,  adjourn 

for  more  than  three  days,  nor  to  any  other  place 

than  that  in  which  the  two  houses  shall  be  sitting. 

Section  6. — Privileges  axd  Disabilities  of. 
Members. 
Pay  and  Privileges  of  Memhers. 
The  Senators  and  Eepresentatives  shall  receive 
a  compensation^  for  their  services,  to  be  ascer- 
tained by  law,  and  paid  out  of  the  Treasury  of  the 
United   States.     They  shall  in  all  cases,  except 
treason,  felony,  and  breach  of  the  peace,  be  priv- 
ileged from  arrest  during  their  attendance  at  the 
session  of  their  respective  houses,  and  in  going  to 
and  returning  from  the  same;  and  for  any  speech 
or  debate  in  either  house,  they  shall  not  be  ques- 
tioned in  any  other  place. 

Prohibitions  on  Memhers. 

Xo  Senator  or  Eepresentative  shall,  during  the 

time  for  which  he  was  elected,  be  appointed  to  any 

civil   office   under   the   authority   of   the    United 

States,  which  shall  have  been  created,  or  the  emol- 


8  $5000  a  year,  and  twenty  cents  for  every  mile  traveled 
by  direct  route  to  and  from  the  capital. 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  161 

uments  whereof  shall  have  been  increased,  during 
such  term ;  and  no  person  holding  any  office  under 
the  United  States,  shall  be  a  member  of  either 
house  during  his  continuance  in  office. 

Section  7. — Method  of  Passing  Laws. 
Revenue  Bills. 

All  bills  for -raising  revenue  shall  originate  in 
the  House  of  Eepresentatives ;  but  the  Senate  may 
propose  or  concur  with  amendments  as  on  other 
bills. 

How  Bills  Become  Laws. 

Every  bill  which  shall  have  passed  the  House 
of  Eepresentatives  and  the  Senate,  shall,  before 
it  become  a  law,  be  presented  to  the  President  of 
the  United  States;  if  he  approve,  he  shall  sign 
it,  but  it  not,  he  shall  return  it,  with  his  objections, 
to  that  house  in  which  it  shall  have  originated, 
who  shall  enter  the  objections  at  large  on  their 
journal,  and  proceed  to  reconsider  it.  If  after 
such  reconsideration,  two-thirds  of  that  house  shall 
agree  to  pass  thie  bill,  it  shall  be  sent,  together  with 
the  objections,  to  the  other  house,  by  which  it  shall 
likewise  be  reconsidered,  and  if  approved  by  two- 
thirds  of  that  house,  it  shall  become  a  law.  But 
in  all  such  cases  the  votes  of  both  houses  shall  be 
determined  by  yeas  and  nays,  and  the  names  of 
the  persons  voting  for  and  against  the  bill  shall 
be  entered  on  the  journal  of  each  house  respect- 
ively.    If  any  bill  shall  not  be  returned  by  the 


163  HISTORY  OF  THE  NEGRO 

President  within  ten  days  (Sundays  excepted) 
after  it  shall  have  been  presented  to  him,  the  same 
shall  be  a  law,  in  like  manner  as  if  he  had  signed 
it,  unless  the  Congress  by  their  adjournment  pre- 
vent its  return,  in  which  case  it  shall  not  be  a  law. 

Resolutions,  etc. 
Every  order,  resolution,  or  vote  to  which  the 
concurrence  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives may  be  necessary  (except  on  a  question 
of  adjournment)  shall  be  presented  to  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States;  and  before  the  same 
shall  take  effect,  shall  be  approved  by  him,  or 
being  disapproved  by  him,  shall  be  repassed  by 
two-thirds  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Represent- 
atives, according  to  the  rules  and  limitations  pre- 
scribed in  the  case  of  a  bill. 

Section  8. — Powers  Granted  to  Congress. 
Powers  of  Congress. 

The  Congress  shall  have  power: 

To  lay  and  collect  taxes,  duties,  imposts,  and 
excises,  to  pay  the  debts  and  provide  for  the  com- 
mon defense  and  general  welfare  of  the  United 
States;  but  all  duties,  imposts,  and  excises  shall 
be  uniform  throughout  the   United   States; 

To  borrow  money  on  the  credit  of  the  United 
States; 

To  regulate  commerce  with  foreign  nations,  and 
among  the  several  States,  and  with  the  Indian 
tribes ; 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  163 

To  establish  a  uniform  rule  of  naturalization/ 
and  uniform  laws  on  the  subject  of  bankruptcies 
throughout  the  United  States; 

To  coin  money,  regulate  the  value  thereof,  and 
of  foreign  coin,  and  fix  the  standard  of  weights 
and  measures; 

To  provide  for  the  punishment  of  counterfeiting 
the  securities  and  current  coin  of  the  United 
States ; 

To  establish  postoffices  and  postroads; 

To  promote  the  progress  of  science  and  useful 
arts,  by  securing,  for  limited  times,  to  authors  and 
inventors  the  exclusive  right  to  their  respective 
writings  and  discoveries;^^ 

To  constitute  tribunals  inferior  to  the  Supreme 
Court ; 

To  define  and  punish  piracies  and  felonies  com- 
mitted on  the  high  seas,  and  offenses  against  the 
law  of  nations; 

To  declare  war,  grant  letters  of  marque  and  re- 
prsal,^^  and  make  rules  concerning  captures  on 
land  and  water; 

To  raise  and  support  armies,  but  no  appropria- 
tion of  money  to  that  use  shall  be  for  a  longer  term 
than  two  years; 


•  The  legal  process  by  which  a  foreigner  becomes  en- 
titled to  the  rights  and  privileges  of  a  citizen  of  the 
United  States. 

10  Authors  secure  "copyrights"  on  their  writings;  in- 
ventors,   "patents"   on   their  inventions. 

11  Letters  granted  by  the  government  to  private  citizens 
in  time  of  war,  authorizing  them,  under  certain  condi- 
tions, to  capture  the  enemy's  ships. 


16 J:  HISTORY  OF  THE  NEGRO 

To  provide  and  maintain  a  navy; 

To  make  rules  for  the  government  and  regula- 
tion of  the  land  and  naval  forces ; 

To  provide  for  calling  forth  the  militia  to  exe- 
cute the  laws  of  the  Union,  suppress  insurrections 
and  repel  invasions; 

To  provide  for  organizing,  arming,  and  discip- 
lining the  militia,  and  for  governing  such  part 
of  them  as  may  be  employed  in  the  service  of 
the  United  States,  reserving  to  the  States  respect- 
ively the  appointment  of  the  officers,  and  the  au- 
thority of  training  the  militia  according  to  the 
discipline  prescribed  by   Congress; 

To  exercise  exclusive  legislation  in  all  cases 
whatsoever  over  such  district  (not  exceeding  ten 
miles  square)  as  may,  by  cession  of  particular 
States,  and  the  acceptance  of  Congress,  become 
the  seat  of  the  government  of  the  United  States, 
and  to  exercise  like  authority  over  all  places  pur- 
chased by  the  consent  of  the  Legislature  of  the 
State  in  which  the  same  shall  be,  for  the  erection 
of  forts,  magazines,  arsenals,  dockyards,  and  other 
needful  buildings  ;^;; And 

Implied  Powers. 

To  make  all  laws  which  shall  be  necessary  and 
proper  for  carrying  into  execution  the  foregoing 
powers,  and  all  other  powers  vested  by  this  Con- 
stitution in  the  government  of  the  United  States, 
or  in  any  department  or  officer  thereof. 


in  the  united  states.  165 

Section  9. — Powers  Forbidden  to  the  United 

States. 

Absolute  Prohibitions  on  Congress. 

The  emigration  or  importation  of  such  persons 
as  any  of  the  States  now  existing  shall  think  proper 
to  admit,  shall  not  be  prohibited  by  the  Congress 
prior  to  the  year  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and 
eight,  but  a  tax  or  duty  may  be  imposed  on  such 
importation,  not  exceeding  ten  dollars  for  each 
person.^2 

The  privilege  of  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus^^ 
shall  not  be  suspended,  unless  when  in  cases  of 
rebellion  or  invasion  the  public  safety  may  re- 
quire it. 

'No  bill  of  attainder^*  or  ex-post-facto  law^^ 
shall  be  passed. 

No  capitation^^  or  other  direct  tax  shall  be  laid, 
unless  in  proportion  to  the  census  or  enumeration 
hereinbefore  directed  to  be  taken. 

No  tax  or  duty  shall  be  laid  on  articles  exported 
from  any  State. 

No  preference  shall  be  given  by  any  regulation 
of  commerce  or  revenue  to  the  ports  of  one  State 
over  those  of  another;  nor  shall  vessels  bound  to, 


"  "Persons"  meaning  slaves;  in  1808  Congress  prohib- 
ited the  importation  of  slaves. 

^  An  official  document  requiring  an  accused  person  who 
has  been  imprisoned  awaiting  trial  to  be  brought  before 
a  judge  to  inquire  whether  he  may  be  legally  held. 

"  An  act  of  a  legislative  body  inflicting  the  death 
penalty  without  trial. 

"  A  law  relating  to  the  punishment  of  acts  committed 
before  the  law  was  passed. 

"Capitation   tax,    poll  tax. 


1G6  HISTORY  OF  THE  NEGRO 

or  from,  one  State,  be  obliged  to  enter,  clear,  or 
pay  duties  in  another. 

No  money  shall  be  draw-n  from  the  Treasury 
but  in  consequence  of  appropriations  made  by  law ; 
and  a  regular  statement  and  account  of  the  re- 
ceipts and  expenditures  of  all  public  money  shall 
be  published  from  time  to  time. 

No  title  of  nobility  shall  be  granted  by  the 
United  States:  And  no  person  holding  any  of- 
fice of  profit  or  trust  under  them,  shall,  without 
the  consent  of  Congress,  accept  of  any  present, 
emolument,  office,  or  title,  of  any  kind  whatever, 
from  any  king,  prince,  or  foreign  state. 

Section  10. — Powers  Forbidden  to  the  States. 

Absolute  Prohibitions  on  the  States. 

No  State  shall  enter  into  any  treaty,  alliance, 
or  confederation;  grant  letters  of  marque  and  re- 
prisal; coin  money;  emit  bills  of  credit;  make 
anything  but  gold  and  silver  coin  a  tender  in  pay- 
ment of  debts;  pass  any  bill  of  attainder,  ex-post- 
facto  law,  or  law  impairing  the  obligation  of  con- 
tracts, or  grant  any  title  of  nobility. 

Conditional  Prohibitions  on  the  States. 

No  State  shall,  without  the  consent  of  the  Con- 
gress, lay  any  imposts  or  duties  on  imports  or 
exports,  except  what  may  be  absolutely  necessary 
for  executing  its  inspection  laws;  and  the  net 
produce  of  all  duties  and  imposts,  laid  by  any 
State  on  imports  or  exports,  shall  be  for  the  use 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  167 

of  the  Treasury  of  the  United  States;  and  all 
such  laws  shall  be  subject  to  the  revision  and  con- 
trol of  the  Congress. 

No  State  shall,  without  the  consent  of  Congress, 
lay  any  duty  of  tonnage,  keep  troops,  or  ships-of- 
war,  in  time  of  peace,  enter  into  any  agreement  or 
compact  with  another  State,  or  with  a  foreign 
power,  or  engage  in  war,  unless  actually  invaded, 
or  in  such  imminent  danger  as  will  not  admit  of 
delay. 

ARTICLE  II.— EXECUTIVE  DEPARTMENT. 

Section  I. — President  and  Vice-President. 

Term. 

The  executive  power  shall  be  vested  in  a  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States  of  America.  He  shall 
hold  his  office  during  the  term  of  four  years,  and, 
together  with  the  Vice-President,  chosen  for  the 
same  term,  be  elected,  as  follows: 

Electors.- 

Each  State  shall  appoint,  in  such  manner  as 
the  Legislature  thereof  may  direct,  a  number  of 
electors,  equal  to  the  whole  number  of  Senators 
and  Representatives  to  which  the  State  may  be 
entitled  in  the  Congress:  but  no  Senator  or  Rep- 
resentative, or  person  holding  an  office  of  trust 
or  profit  under  the  United  States,  shall  be  ap- 
pointed an  elector. 


168  HISTORY  OF  THE  NEGRO 

Proceedings  of  Electors  and  of  Congress. 

[^^The  electors  shall  meet  in  their  respective 
States,  and  vote  by  ballot  for  two  persons,  of  whom 
one  at  least  shall  not  be  an  inhabitant  of  the  same 
State  with  themselves.  And  they  shall  make  a 
list  of  all  the  persons  voted  for,  and  of  the  num- 
ber of  votes  for  each ;  which  list  they  shall  sign  and 
certify  and  transmit  sealed  to  the  seat  of  the 
government  of  the  United  States,  directed  to  the 
President  of  the  Senate.  The  President  of  the 
Senate  shall,  in  the  presence  of  the  Senate  and 
House  of  Eepresentatives,  open  all  the  certificates, 
and  the  votes  shall  then  be  counted.  The  person 
having  the  greatest  number  of  votes  shall  be  the 
President,  if  such  number  be  a  majority  of  the 
whole  number  of  electors  appointed;  and  if  there 
be  more  than  one  who  have  such  majorit}^  and 
have  an  equal  number  of  votes,  then  the  House 
of  Eepresentatives  shall  immediately  choose  by 
ballot  one  of  them  for  President ;  and  if  no  person 
have  a  majority,  then  from  the  five  highest  on  the 
list  the  said  House  shall,  in  like  manner,  choose 
the  President.  But  in  choosing  the  President, 
the  vote  shall  be  taken  by  States,  the  representa- 
tion from  each  State  having  one  vote;  a  quorum 
for  this  purpose  shall  consist  of  a  member  or  mem- 
.  hers  from  tw^o-thirds  of  the  States,  and  a  majority 
of  all  the  States  shall  be  necessary  to  a  choice.     In 


"  This  paragraph  in  brackets  has  been  superseded  by 
the  Twelfth  Amendment. 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  169 

every  case,  after  the  choice  of  the  President,  the 
person  having  the  greatest  number  of  votes  of  the 
electors  shall  be  the  Vice-President.  But  if  there 
should  remain  two  or  more  who  have  equal  votes, 
the  Senate  shall  choose  from  them  by  ballot  the 
Vice-President.] 

Time  of  Choosing  Electors. 

The  Congress  may  determine  the  time  of  choos- 
ing the  electors,  and  the  day  on  which  they  shall 
give  their  votes;  which  day  shall  be  the  same 
throughout  the  United  States.^^ 

Qualifioations  of  President. 

'No  person  except  a  natural  born  citizen,  or  a 
citizen  of  the  United  States  at  the  time  of  the 
adoption  of  this  Constitution,  shall  be  eligible  to 
the  office  of  President ;  neither  shall  any  person  be 
eligible  to  that  office  who  shall  not  have  attained 
to  the  age  of  thirty-five  years,  and  been  fourteen 
years  resident  within  the  United  States. 

Vacancy. 
In  case  of  the  removal  of  the  President  from  of- 
fice, or  of  his  death,  resignation,  or  inability  to 
discharge  the  powers  and  duties  of  the  said  office, 
the  same  shall  devolve  on  the  Vice-President,  and 
the  Congress  may  by  law  provide  for  the  case  of 

"The  electors  are  chosen  on  the  Tuesday  following 
the  first  Monday  in  November,  next  before  the  expira- 
tion of  a  presidential  term.  They  vote  (by  Act  of  Con- 
gress of  Feb.  3.  1887)  on  the  second  Monday  in  January 
following,  for  President  and  Vice-President.  The  votes 
are  counted,  and  declared  in  Congress  on  the  second 
Wednesday  of  the  next  February. 


170  HISTORY  OF  THE  NEGRO 

removal,  death,  resignation,  or  inability,  both  of 
the  President  and  Vice-President,  declaring  what 
officer  shall  then  act  as  President;  and  such  officer 
shall  act  accordingly  until  the  disability  be  re- 
moved, or  a  President  shall  be  elected. 

Salary. 
The  President  shall,  at  stated  times,  receive  for 
his  services  a  compensation^®  which  shall  neither 
be  increased  nor  diminished  during  the  period  for 
which  he  shall  have  been  elected,  and  he  shall  not 
receive  within  that  period  any  other  emolument 
from  the  United  States,  or  any  of  them. 

Oath. 
Before  he  enter  on  the  execution  of  his  office, 
he  shall  take  the  following  oath  or  affirmation : — 
"I  do  solemnly  swear  (or  affirm)  that  I  will  faith- 
fully execute  the  office  of  President  of  the  United 
States,  and  will  to  the  best  of  my  ability,  preserve, 
protect,  and  defend  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States.'^ 

Section  2. — Powers  of  the  President. 
Military  Powers. — Reprieves  and  Pardons. 
The  President  shall  be  commander-in-chief  of 
the  army  and  navy  of  the  United  States,  and  of 
the  militia  of  the  several  States,  when  called  into 
the  actual  service  of  the  United  States;  he  may 
require  the  opinion,  in  writing,  of  the  principal 


"  The  President  now  receives  $50,000  a  year;  the  Vice- 
President,   $8000. 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  171 

officer  in  each  of  the  executive  departments,  upon 
any  subject  relating  to  the  duties  of  their  respect- 
ive offices;  and  he  shall  have  power  to  grant  re- 
prieves and  pardons  for  offenses  against  the  United 
States,  except  in  cases  of  impeachment. 

Treaties. — Appointments. 
He  shall  have  the  power,  by  and  with  the  advice 
and  consent  of  the  Senate,  to  make  treaties,  pro- 
vided two-thirds  of  the  Senators  present  concur; 
and  he  shall  nominate,  and  by  and  with  the  advice 
and  consent  of  the  Senate  shall  appoint  ambassa- 
dors, other  public  ministers  and  consuls,  judges  of 
the  Supreme  Court  and  all  other  officers  of  the 
United  States,  whose  appointments  are  not  herein 
otherwise  provided  for,  and  which  shall  be  es- 
tablished by  law;  but  the  Congress  may  by  law 
vest  the  appointment  of  such  inferior  officers,  as 
they  think  proper,  in  the  President  alone,  in  the 
courts  of  law,  or  in  the  heads  of  departments. 

Fill  Vacancies. 

The  President  shall  have  power  to  fill  up  all 
vacancies  that  may  happen  during  the  recess  of 
the  Senate,  by  granting  commissions  which  shall 
expire  at  the  end  of  their  next  session. 

Section  3. — Duties  of  the  President. 

Message. — Convene  Congress. 

He  shall  from  time  to  time  give  to  Congress  in- 
formation of  the  state  of  the  Union,  and  recom- 


172  HISTOBY  OF  THE  NEGEO 

mend  to  their  consideration  such  measures  as  he 
shall  judge  necessary  and  expedient;  he  may,  on 
extraordinary  occasions,  convene  both  houses,  or 
either  of  them,  and  in  case  of  disagreement  be- 
tween them  with  respect  to  the  time  of  adjourn- 
ment, he  may  adjourn  them  to  such  time  as  he 
shall  think  proper;  he  shall  receive  ambassadors 
and  other  public  ministers ;  he  shall  take  care  that 
the  laws  be  faithfully  executed,  and  shall  commis- 
sion all  the  officers  of  the  United  States. 

Section  4. — Impeachment. 

Removal  of  Officers. 
The  President,  Vice  President,  and  all  civil  offi- 
cers of  the  United  States,  shall  be  removed  from 
office  on  impeachment  for,  and  conviction  of,  trea- 
son, bribery,  or  other  high  crimes  and  misde- 
meanors. 

ARTICLE   III.— JUDICIAL   DEPARTMEXT. 
Section  I. — United  States  Courts. 
Co  iirts  Esta h  lish  ed. — Jvdg es. 
The  judicial  power  of  the  United  States  shall 
be  vested  in  one  Supreme  Court,  and  in  such  in- 
ferior courts  as  the  Congress  may  from  time  to 
time  ordain  and  establish.     The  judges,  both  of 
the  Supreme  and  inferior  courts,  shall  hold  their 
offices  during  good  behavior,  and  shall,  at  stated 
times,  receive  for  their  services  a  compensation^^ 


20  The    Chief    Justice    of    the    Supreme    Court    receives 
$10,500  a  year;  the  associate  justices,  $10,000. 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  173 

which  shall  not  be  diminished  during  their  con- 
tinuance in  office. 

Section  3. — Jurisdiction  of  United  States 
Courts. 

Federal  Courts  in  General. 
The  judicial  power  shall  extend  to  all  cases,  in 
law  and  equity,  arising  under  this  Constitution, 
the  laws  of  the  United  States,  and  treaties  made, 
or  which  shall  be  made,  under  their  authority; — 
to  all  cases  affecting  ambassadors,  other  public 
ministers,  and  consuls; — to  all  cases  of  admiralty 
and  maritime  jurisdiction; — to  controversies  to 
which  the  United  States  shall  be  a  party; — to 
controversies  between  two  or  more  States; — ^be- 
tween a  State  and  citizens  of  another  State  ;^^ — be- 
tween citizens  of  different  States; — between  citi- 
zens of  the  same  State  claiming  lands  under  grants 
of  different  States,  and  between  a  State,  or  the 
citizens  thereof,  and  foreign  states,  citizens  or  sub- 
jects. 

Supreme  Court. 

In  all  cases  affecting  ambassadors,  other  public 
ministers  and  consuls,  and  those  in  which  a  State 
shall  be  party,  the  Supreme  Court  shall  Lave  orig- 
inal jurisdiction.  In  all  other  cases  before  men- 
tioned, the  Supreme  Court  shall  have  appellate 
jurisdiction,  both  as  to  law  and  fact,  with  such 


21  But  compare  Amendment  XL 


174  HISTORY  OF  THE  NEGRO 

exceptions  and  under  such  regulations  as  the  Con- 
gress shall  make. 

Trials. 
The  trial  of  all  crimes,  except  in  cases  of  im- 
peachment, shall  be  by  jury;  and  such  trial  shall 
be  held  in  the  State  where  the  said  crimes  shall 
have  been  committed;  but  when  not  committed 
within  any  State,  the  trial  shall  be  at  such  place 
or  places  as  the  Congress  may  by  law  have  di- 
rected. 

Section  3. — Treason. 

Treason  Defined. 

Treason  against  the  United  States  shall  consist 
only  in  levying  war  against  them,  or  in  adhering 
to  her  enemies,  giving  them  aid  and  comfort. 

No  person  shall  be  convicted  of  treason  unless 
on  the  testimony  of  two  witnesses  to  the  same 
overt  act,  or  on  confession  in  open  court. 

Punishment. 
The  Congress  shall  have  power  to  declare  the 
punishment  of  treason,  but  no  attainder  of  treason 
shall  work  corruption  of  blood,  or  forfeiture,  ex- 
cept during  the  life  of  the  person  attainted. 

ARTICLE    IV.— RELATIONS    OF    THE 

STATE  TO  EACH  OTHER. 

Section  1. — Official  Acts. 

Full  faith  and  credit  shall  be  given  in  each 

State  to  the  public  acts,  records  and  judicial  pro- 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  175 

ceedings  of  every  other  State.  And  the  Congress 
may  by  general  laws,  prescribe  the  manner  in 
which  such  acts,  records  and  proceedings  shall 
be  proved,  and  the  effect  thereof. 

Section  2. — PRivfLEGES  of  Citizens. 

The  citizens  of  each  State  shall  be  entitled  to 
all  privileges  and  immunities  of  citizens  in  the 
several  States. 

Fugitives  From  Justice. 
A  person  charged  in  any  State  with  treason,  fel- 
ony, or  other  crime,  who  shall  flee  from  justice, 
and  be  found  in  another  State,  shall,  on  demand 
of  the  executive  authority  of  the  State  from  which 
he  fled,  be  delivered  up,  to  be  removed  to  the 
State  having  jurisdiction  of  the  crime. 

Fugitive  Slaves. 
No  person^^  held  to  service  in  one  State,  under 
the  laws  thereof,  escaping  into  another,  shall,  in 
consequence  of  any  law  or  regulation  therein,  be 
discharged  from  such  service  or  labor,  but  shall 
be  delivered  up  on  claim  of  the  party  to  whom  such 
service  or  labor  may  be  due. 

Section  3. — The  New  States  and  Territories. 
Admission  of  States. 
New  States  may  be  admitted  by  the  Congress 
into  this  Union  but  no  new  State  shall  he  formed 


22  "Person"  here  includes  slaves.  This  was  the  basis 
of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law.  It  is  now  superseded  by 
Amendment  XIII. 


176  HISTORY  OF  THE  NEGRO 

or  erected  within  the  jurisdiction  of  any  other 
State;  nor  any  State  be  formed  by  the  junction  of 
two  or  more  States,  or  parts  of  States,  without  the 
consent  of  the  Legislatures  of  the  States  concerned 
as  well  as  of  the  Congress. 

Territory  and  Property  of  United  States. 

The  Congress  shall  have  power  to  dispose  of  and 
make  all  needful  rules  and  regulations  respecting 
the  territory  or  other  property  belonging  to  the 
United  States;  and  nothing  in  this  Constitution 
shall  be  so  construed  as  to  prejudice  any  claims 
of  the  United  States,  or  of  any  particular  State. 

Section  4. — Protection  of  the  States. 

The  United  States  shall  guarantee  to  every 
State  in  this  Union  a  republican  form  of  govern- 
ment, and  shall  protect  each  of  them  against  in- 
vasion, and  on  application  of  the  Legislature,  or 
of  the  Executive  (when  the  Legislature  can  not 
be  convened)   against  domestic  violence. 

AETICLE  v.— AME^^DMEXTS. 

How  Proposed. — How  Ratified. 

The  Congress,  whenever  two-thirds  of  both 
houses  shall  deem  it  necessar}',  shall  propose 
amendments  to  this  Constitution,  or,  on  the  ap- 
plication of  the  Legislatures  of  two-thirds  of  the 
several  States,  shall  call  a  convention  for  propos- 
ing amendments,  which,  in  either  case,  shall  be 
valid  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  as  part  of  this 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  177 

Constitution,  when  ratified  by  the  Legislatures  of 
three-fourths  of  the  several  States,  or  by  conven- 
tions in  three-fourths  thereof,  as  the  one  or  the 
other  mode  of  ratification  may  be  proposed  by  the 
Congress ;  provided  that  no  amendment  which  may 
be  made  prior  to  the  year  one  thusand  eight  hun- 
dred and  eight  shall  in  any  manner  affect  the  first 
and  fourth  clauses  in  the  ninth  section  of  the  first 
article ;  and  that  no  State,  without  its  consent,  shall 
be  deprived  of  its  equal  suffrage  in  the  Senate. 

ARTICLE  VL— GENERAL  PROVISIONS. 

Public  Debt. 

All  debts  contracted,  and  engagements  entered 
into,  before  the  adoption  of  this  Constitution,  shall 
be  as  valid  against  the  United  States  under  this 
Constitution,  as  under  the  confederation. 

Supremacy  of  Constitution. 

This  Constitution,  and  the  laws  of  the  United 
States  which  shall  be  made  in  pursuance  thereof; 
and  all  treaties  made,  or  which  shall  be  made, 
under  the  authority  of  the  United  States,  shall 
be  the  supreme  law  of  the  land ;  and  the  judges  in 
every  State  shall  be  bound  thereby,  anything  in  the 
Constitution  or  laws  of  any  State  to  the  contrary 
notwithstanding. 

Official  Oath. — Religious  Test. 

The  Senators  and  Representatives  before  men- 
tioned, and  the  members  of  the  several  State  Leg- 


178  HISTORY  OF  THE  XEGRO 

islatures,  and  all  executive  and  judicial  ofiBcers, 
both  of  the  United  States  and  of  the  several  States, 
shall  be  bound  by  oath  or  affirmation  to  support 
this  Constitution;  but  no  religious  test  shall  ever 
be  required  as  a  qualification  to  any  office  or  public 
trust  under  the  United  States. 

AKTICLE  VIL— EATinCATION  OF  THE 
COXSTITUTIOX. 

The  ratification  of  the  Conventions  of  nine 
States  shall  be  sufficient  for  the  establishment  of 
this  Constitution  between  the  States  so  ratifying 
the  same.  • 

Done  in  convention,  by  the  unanimous  consent 
of  the  States  present,  the  seventeenth  day  of  Sep- 
tember, in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  seven 
hundred  and  eighty-seven,  and  of  the  independ- 
ence of  the  United  States  of  America  the  twelfth. 

In  witness  whereof,  we  have  hereunto  subscribed 
our  names. 

George  Washington, 
President,  and  Deput}^  from  Virginia. 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


179 


NEW  HAMPSHIRE. 
John  Langdon, 
Nicholas  Oilman. 

MASSACHUSETTS. 
Nathaniel  Gokham, 
RuFus  King. 

CONNECTICUT. 

William  Samuel  Johnson, 
Roger  Sherman. 

NEW  YORK. 
Alexander  Hamilton. 

NEW  JERSEY. 

William  Livingston, 
David  Brearley, 
William  Paterson, 
Jonathan  Dayton. 

PENNSYLVANIA. 

Benjamin  Franklin, 
Thomas  Mifflin, 
Robert  Morris, 
George  Cilymer, 
Thomas  Fitzsimons, 
Tared  Ingersoll, 
James  Wilson, 
gouverneur  morris. 


DELAWARE. 
George  Read, 
Gunning  Bedford,  Jr., 
John  Dickinson, 
Richard  Bassett, 
Jacob  Broom. 

MARYLAND. 
James  M'Henrt, 
Daniel  of  St.   Thomas 

Jenifer, 
Daniel  Carroll. 

VIRGINIA. 
John  Blair, 
James  Madison,  Jr. 

NORTH  CAROLINA. 
William  Blount, 
Richard  Dobbs  Spaight, 
Hugh  Williamson. 

SOUTH  CAROLINA. 
John  Rutledge, 
Charles  O.  Pinckney, 
Charles  Pinckney, 
Pierce  Butler, 

GEORGIA. 
William  Few, 
Abraham  Baldwin. 


Attest:    William  Jackson^  Secretary. 


AMENDMENTS. 


Religion,  Speech,  Press,  Assembly,  Petition. 

Article  I.^^ — Congress  shall  make  no  law  re- 
specting an  establishment  of  religion,  or  prohibit- 
ing the  free  exercise  thereof ;  or  abridging  the  free- 
dom of  speech,  or  of  the  press ;  or  the  right  of  the 


23  The  first  ten  amendments  were  proposed  by  Congress 
in  1789,  and  adopted  in  1791.  They  are  often  called  the 
Bill  of  Rights,  and  they  are  intended  to  guard  more 
efficiently  the  rights  of  the  people  and  of  the  States. 


180  HISTORY  OF  THE  XEGRO 

people  peaceably  to  assemble,  and  to  petition  the 
government  for  redress  of  grievances. 

Militia. 

Article  II. — A  well-regulated  militia  being 
necessary  to  the  security  of  a  free  State,  the  right 
of  the  people  to  keep  and  bear  arms  shall  not  be 
infringed. 

Soldiers. 

Article  III. — Xo  soldier  shall,  in  time  of 
peace,  be  quartered  in  any  house,  without  the  con- 
sent of  the  owner;  nor  in  time  of  war  but  in  a 
manner  to  be  prescribed  by  law. 

Unreasonable  Search es. 
Article  IV. — The  right  of  the  people  to  be 
secure  in  their  persons,  houses,  papers,  and  effects, 
against  unreasonable  searches  and  seizures,  shall 
not  be  violated,  and  no  warrants  shall  issue,  but 
upon  probable  cause,  supported  by  oath  or  affirma- 
tion, and  particularly  describing  the  place  to  be 
searched,  and  the  person  or  things  to  be  seized. 

Criminal  Prosecutions. 
Article  Y. — No  person  shall  be  held  to  answer 
for  a  capital,  or  otherwise  infamous  crime,  unless 
on  a  presentment  or  indictment  of  a  grand  jury 
except  in  cases  arising  in  the  land  or  naval  forces, 
or  in  the  militia,  when  in  actual  service  in  time 
of  war  and  public  danger;  nor  shall  any  person 
be  subject  for  the  same  offense  to  be  twice  put  in 
jeopardy  of  life  or  limb;  nor  shall  be  compelled 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  181 

in  any  criminal  case  to  be  a  witness  against  him- 
self, nor  to  be  deprived  of  life,  liberty,  or  property, 
without  due  process  of  law ;  nor  shall  private  prop- 
erty be  taken  for  public  use,  without  just  com- 
pensation. 

Article  VI. — In  all  criminal  prosecutions,  the 
accused  shall  enjoy  the  right  to  a  speedy  and  pub- 
lic trial,  by  an  impartial  jury  of  the  State  and 
district  wherein  the  crime  shall  have  been  com- 
mitted, which  district  shall  have  been  previously 
ascertained  by  law,  and  to  be  informed  of  the  na- 
ture and  cause  of  the  accusation ;  to  be  confronted 
with  the  witnesses  against  him;  to  have  compul- 
sory process  for  obtaining  witnesses  in  his  favor, 
and  to  have  the  assistance  of  counsel  for  his  de- 
fense. 

Suits  at  Common  Law. 

Article  VII. — In  suits  at  common  law,  where 
the  value  in  controversy  shall  exceed  twenty  dol- 
lars, the  right  of  trial  by  jury  shall  be  preserved, 
and  no  fact  tried  by  a  jury  shall  be  otherwise  re- 
examined in  any  court  of  the  United  States  than 
according  to  the  rules  of  common  law. 

Bail,  Punishments. 

Article  YIII.— Excessive  bail  shall  not  be  re- 
quired, nor  excessive  fines  imposed,  nor  cruel  and 
unusual  punishments  inflicted. 

Reserved  Rights  and  Poivers. 
Article  IX. — The  enumeration  in  the  Consti- 


182  HISTORY  OF  THE  NEGRO 

tution  of  certain  rights  shall  not  be  construed  to 
deny  or  disparage  others  retained  by  the  people. 

Article  X. — The  powers  not  delegated  to  the 
United  States  by  the  Constitution,  nor  prohibited 
by  it  to  the  States,  are  reserved  to  the  States  re- 
spectively, or  to  the  people. 

Judicial  Power  Granted. 

Article  XI.^* — The  judicial  power  of  the 
United  States  shall  not  be  construed  to  extend  to 
any  suit  in  law  or  equity,  commenced  or  prose- 
cuted against  any  citizen  of  the  United  States  by 
citizens  of  another  State,  or  by  citizens  or  sub- 
jects of  any  foreign  state. 

Method  of  Electing  President  and  Vice-President. 
Article  XII. ^^ — The  electors  shall  meet  in 
their  respective  States,  and  vote  by  ballot  for 
President  and  Vice-President,  one  of.  whom,  at 
least,  shall  not  be  an  inhabitant  of  the  same  State 
with  themselves;  they  shall  name  in  their  ballots 
the  person  voted  for  as  President,  and  in  distinct 
ballots  the  person  voted  for  as  Vice-President; 
and  they  shall  make  distinct  lists  of  all  persons 
voted  for  as  President,  and  of  all  persons  voted 
for  as  Vice-President,  and  of  the  number  of  votes 
for  each,  which  list  they  shall  sign  and  certify, 
and  transmit  sealed  to  the  seat  of  government  of 
the  United  States,  directed  to  the  President  of  the 
Senate ; — the  President  of  the  Senate  shall,  in  the 


2*  Proposed  in  1794;   adopted  1798. 
25  Adopted  1804. 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  183 

presence  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representa- 
tives, open  all  the  certificates,  and  the  votes  shall 
then  be  counted; — the  person  having  the  greatest 
number  of  votes  for  President,  shall  be  the  Pres- 
ident, if  such  number  be  a  majority  of  the  whole 
number  of  electors  appointed;  and  if  no  per- 
son have  such  majority,  then  from  the  persons 
having  the  highest  numbers  not  exceeding  three 
on  the  list  of  those  voted  for  as  President,  the 
House  of  Eepresentatives  shall  choose  immedi- 
ately, by  ballot,  the  President.  But  in  choos- 
ing the  President,  the  votes  shall  be  taken  by 
States,  the  representation  from  each  State  hav- 
ing one  vote ;  a  quorum  for  this  purpose  shall  con- 
sist of  a  member  or  members  from  two-thirds 
of  the  States,  and  a  majority  of  all  the  States  shall 
be  necessary  to  a  choice.  And  if  the  House  of 
Eepresentatives  shall  not  choose  a  President  when- 
ever the  right  of  choice  shall  devolve  upon  them, 
before  the  fourth  day  of  March  next  following, 
then  the  Vice-President  shall  act  as  President,  as 
in  the  case  of  the  death  or  other  constitutional 
disability  of  the  President.  The  person  having 
the  greatest  number  of  votes  as  Vice-President, 
shall  be  the  Vice-President,  if  such  number  be  a 
majority  of  the  whole  number  of  electors  ap- 
pointed; and  if  no  person  have  a  majority,  then 
from  the  two  highest  numbers  on  the  list,  the 
Senate  shall  choose  the  Vice-President;  a  quorum 
for  the  purpose  shall  consist  of  two-thirds  of  the 


184  HISTORY  OF  THE  NEGRO 

whole  number  of  senators,  and  a  majority  of  the 
whole  number  shall  be  necessary  to  a  choice.  But 
no  person  constitutionally  ineligible  to  the  office 
of  President  shall  be  eligible  to  that  of  Vice- 
President  of  the  United  States. 

Slavery  Abolished. 

Article  XIII. ^^ — Section  1.  Xeither  slavery 
nor  involuntary  servitude,  except  as  a  punishment 
for  crime,  whereof  the  party  shall  have  been  duly 
convicted,  shall  exist  within  the  United  States, 
or  any  place  subject  to  their  jurisdiction. 

Section  2.  Congress  shall  have  power  to  enforce 
this  article  by  appropriate  legislation. 

Negroes  Made  Citizens. 

Article  XIV.^^ — Section  1.  All  persons  bom 
or  naturalized  in  the  United  States,  and  subject 
to  the  jurisdiction  thereof,  are  citizens  of  the 
United  States  and  of  the  State  wherein  they  re- 
side. Xo  State  shall  make  or  enforce  any  law 
which  shall  abridge  the  privileges  or  immunities 
of  citizens  of  the  United  States;  nor  shall  any 
State  deprive  any  person  of  life,  liberty,  or  prop- 
erty, without  due  process  of  law,  nor  deny  to  any 
person  within  its  jurisdiction  the  equal  protection 
of  the  laws. 

Section  2.  Eepresentatives  shall  be  apportioned 
among  the  several  States  according  to  their  re- 


2e  Adopted  1865. 
"Adopted  1868. 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  185 

spective  numbers,  counting  the  whole  number  of 
persons  in  each  State,  excluding  Indians  not  taxed. 
But  when  the  right  to  vote  at  any  election  for 
the  choice  of  electors  for  President  and  Vice-Pres- 
ident of  the  United  States,  Representatives  in 
Congress,  the  executive  or  judicial  officers  of  a 
State,  or  the  members  of  the  Legislature  thereof, 
is  denied  to  any  of  the  male  inhabitants  of  such 
State,  being  twenty-one  years  of  age,  and  citizens 
of  the  United  States,  or  in  any  way  abridged,  ex- 
cept for  participation  in  rebellion  or  other  crime, 
the  basis  of  representation  therein  shall  be  reduced 
in  the  proportion  which  the  number  of  such  male 
citizens  shall  bear  to  the  whole  number  of  male 
citizens  tw^enty-one  years  of  age  in  such  State. 

Section  3.  No  person  shall  be  a  Senator  or  Rep- 
resentative in  Congress,  or  elector  of  President  or 
Vice-President,  or  hold  any  office,  civil  or  military, 
under  the  United  States,  or  under  any  State,  who 
having  previously  taken  an  oath  as  a  member  of 
Congress,  or  as  an  officer  of  the  United  States,  or 
as  a  member  of  any  State  Legislature,  or  as  an 
executive  or  judicial  officer  of  any  State,  to  sup- 
port the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  shall 
have  engaged  in  insurrection  or  rebellion  against 
the  same,  or  given  aid  or  comfort  to  the  enemies 
thereof.  But  Congress  may,  by  a  vote  of  two- 
thirds  of  each  house,  remove  such  disability. 

Section  ^.  The  validity  of  the  public  debt  of 
the  United  States,  authorized  by  law,  including 


186  HISTORY  OF  THE  NEGRO 

debts  incurred  for  payment  of  pensions  and  boun- 
ties for  services  in  suppressing  insurrection  or  re- 
bellion, shall  not  be  questioned.  But  neither  the 
United  States  nor  any  State  shall  assume  or  pay 
any  debt  or  obligation  incurred  in  aid  of  insurrec- 
tion or  rebellion  against  the  United  States,  or  any 
claim  for  the  loss  or  emancipation  of  any  slave; 
but  all  such  debts,  obligations  and  claims  shall  be 
held  illegal  and  void. 

Section  5.  Congress  shall  have  power  to  en- 
force, by  appropriate  legislation,  the  provisions  of 
this  article. 

Negroes  Made   Voters. 

Article  XY.-^ — Section  1.  The  rights  of  citi- 
zens of  the  United  States  to  vote  shall  not  be  de- 
nied or  abridged  by  the  United  States,  or  by  any 
State,  on  account  of  race,  color,  or  previous  condi- 
tion of  servitude. 

Section  2.  Congress  shall  have  power  to  en- 
force this  article  by  appropriate  legislation. 


=8  Adopted  1S70. 


CONTENTS  AND  INDEX. 

Page. 
niAPTER   I. — Discovery   of   America — 

Causes — ■Columbus — Cabot — Native    Inhabitants    to    34 
CHAPTER    II.— Explorations— 

The      Spanish — Estevanico — England — France — 

Holland     34-39 

CHAPTER   III.— Settlements— 

The  London  Company— The  Plymouth  Com- 
pany— Virginia— Slavery  Introduced  —  Pros- 
perity— Free      Negroes — Special      Laws — Tom 

Fuller     39-44 

CHAPTER   IV.— Massachusetts   Settled- 
Slavery   Introduced — Negroes   in   Colonial   Mili- 
tia— Partial    Emancipation — Phillis    Wheatley 

— Washington's    Letter    44-r)0 

CHAPTER  v.— Slavery  in  Middle  Colonies- 
New  Netherlands — English  Gain  Control — Free 
Negroes  Became  Citizens — Maryland  Settled 
Slavery  a  Complex  System — 'Religious  Trou- 
bles— Laws  Governing  Slave  Marriages — 
Benjamin      Banneka  —  Jefferson's      Letter  — 

Frances    Watkins    50-5S 

CHAPTER  VI.— Slavery   in    Southern    Colonies- 
Minority      Opposition — Florida — Blount's      Fort 

Government — Seminole    and    Creek    Indians....     58-63 
CHAPTER  VII.— The   French   Type- 
Louisiana — French       Claims — Slavex'y — Catholic 

Churches — Creoles — Alexandre    Dumas    (>3-fi7 

CHAPTER   VIII.— The   Spanish   Type- 
Texas — French    and    Spanish    Claims — Mexico 

Slaves  Declared  Free  by  Mexico — Relation  of 
Slaves  and  Mexicans — The  Cart  War — Inter- 
Colonial    Wars fi'-fJT 

CHAPTER    IX.— Revolutionary    War- 
Causes — British     Soldiers — Boston     Massacre — 

Crispus    Attucks — Inventions    67-71 

CHAPTER  X.— Revolutionary   War- 
Negro     Soldiers — Hamilton's     Letter — The     To- 
ries— Hamilton's    Letter — Washington's    Let- 
ter       71-77 

CHAPTER  XI.— The    Black   Heroes- 
Caleb     Bai'bour — Stony     Point — Peter     Salem 

Samuel  Charlton — Prince  Whipple — Wash- 
ington— Treaty    of    Peace 77-81 

CHAPTER  XII.— Framing   the   Constitution- 
Sectional  Differences — Providing  Two  Houses — 
Counting     the     Slaves — Compromises — Types  ' 
of    the    Two    Sections — Invention    of    Cotton 

Gin    81-85 

CHAPTER   XIII.— The    New   Government- 
Early  Difficulties — Number  of  Slaves   in  Amer- 
ica           sn-87 


TXDRX. 

CHAPTER  XIV.— War  of   1812—  ^^^^' 

Battle  of  New  Orleans— Speech   to  Negro  Sol- 
diers— Shaler's       Report — Slaves      in       South 

Carolina    ST-OO 

CHAPTER   XV.— Abolition   Sentiment- 
Organization      Established— Political     Parties — 
Free     Soil     Party     Platform— Liberty     Party 
Platform— Free    Democrat    Party    Platform — 
Republican      Party      Platform  —  Democratic 
Party    Platform — Stephens'    Announcement...     90-94 
CHAPTER   XVI.— Abolition    Efforts- 
Press    and     Pulpit — Benjamin    Lundy— William 
Lloyd  Garrison— Missouri  Compromise— Kan- 
sas  and   Nebraska    Bill — Fugitive    Slave   Law 
— Dred  Scott  Decision— John  Brown's  Raid — 
Frederick   Douglass — Underground  Railroad — 
National    Anti-Slavery    Convention — Election 
of     1S60 — Conservative  •  Leaders — Growth     of 

United    States    94-101 

CHAPTER   XVII.— Confederate   Government- 
President  Lincoln — Opposition  to  Enlisting  Ne- 
groes —  Emancipation    Proclamation  —  Negro 

Soldiers 101 -lOt^ 

CHAPTER  XVIII.— Black  Regiments- 
Port  Hudson — Milliken  Bend — The  New  York 
Times  Said  —  Fort  Wagner  —  With  Grant 
Around  Richmond — Three  Plans  of  the  War 
Completed — Lee's  Surrender — Lincoln  Assas- 
sinated  10t)-110 

CHAPTER   XIX.— Reconstruction- 
Johnson    Plan — Congressional    Plan — Tenure    of 
Office     Bill  —  President     Impeached  —  Freed-  ■ 
man's     Bureau — Mutual     Understanding — Ku 

Klux  Klan  110-114 

CHAPTER   XX.— The    Negro    in    Civil    Life- 
Progress     in     Recent     Times — Negro     Senators 
and    Congressmen  —  Education  —  Negro    Col- 
leges— Songs   of   America— Journalism 114-120 

CHAPTER   XXI.— Doubts    Expressed— 

Charges  Refuted  —  Mr.  Calhoun  —  The  Last 
Charge— Negro  Banks — Haiti  and  Liberia — 
The      Baptist     Church— Methodist      Church — 

Dr.    M.    C.    B.    Mason 120-124 

CHAPTER   XXII.— Last    Foreign    War- 

The    Tenth   Cavalry— General    Maceo 124-12S 

CHAPTER   XXIII.— Noted    Negro    Leaders- 
Douglass  —  Du      Bois— Langston  —  Booker      T. 

Washington — N.    W.    Cuney— Bishop    Grant....l2.S-l32 
CHAPTER  XXIV.— Other   Great    Leaders- 
Robert    Brown    Elliott — Gov.    P.     B.     S.    Pinch- 
back — Senator    P..    K.    Bruce — Bishop    H.    M. 
Turner— R.     T.     Greener— Dr.     Wm.     Scarbo- 
rough—Bishop    T.      B.      Scott— Hundreds     of 

Others— Negro    Congressmen — Statistics    132-140 

CHAPTER  XXV.— The  Great   Poet- 
Paul  Lawrence  Dunbar— W.    D.   Howells— Dun- 
bar's Dialectic  Style— T\'hen  Malindv  Sings— 
The  Party— The  Constitution .'. .        i4l   to  end 


